Mussina, Yankees top Twins for 10th straight home win

Mussina, Yankees top Twins for 10th straight home win

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NEW YORK (AP) -- Mike Mussina baffled the Twins for eight innings, Alex
Rodriguez hit a two-run double and the New York Yankees beat Minnesota 5-1
on Wednesday for their 10th straight home win.


Justin Christian drove in two runs with a double, and Richie Sexson had a
sacrifice fly and 13 putouts and three assists at first base as the Yankees
completed a 6-0 post-break homestand with sweeps of Oakland and the Twins.

Up next is a trip to Boston, with the Yankees taking their mediocre 23-23
road record into Fenway Park for three games starting Friday.

The Twins did not get a runner past second base against Mussina (13-6) in
losing their fourth straight game. Mussina scattered six hits, retiring 14
of the first 17 batters and walking none for the third straight start.

He has given up just five runs in his past five starts and now has 263
career wins.

Cries of "Moose" from the crowd of 54,114 reached a crescendo as the
39-year-old right-hander with a deep bending motion struck out the final two
batters of the eighth, then tipped his hat to the crowd just before
descending into the Yankees dugout.

LaTroy Hawkins gave up three hits, including Mike Lamb's RBI single in the
ninth, before giving way to Mariano Rivera. The closer struck out
pinch-hitter Jason Kubel with runners on second and third for his 25th save.

The 10-game winning streak at home is the Yankees' longest since Sept. 9,
1998, to April 14, 1999. The last time New York won 10 in a row at Yankee
Stadium in a single season was July 26-Aug. 14, 1998.

Robinson Cano went 2-for-4 and was in the middle of yet another Yankees
scoring opportunity.

Hitting .560 since working on his swing with his father in the Dominican
Republic during the All-Star break, Cano singled in the fifth and scored on
Christian's two-run double down the left-field line to give New York a 2-0
lead.

Glen Perkins (7-3) was coming off throwing six shutout innings against the
powerful Texas Rangers and had won five straight decisions. He last loss on
May 30, against the Yankees.

Perkins, who is considered one of the main reasons why Francisco Liriano's
agent has asked the union to investigate why his client has not been called
up despite dominating Triple-A hitters for the past six weeks, gave up a
season-high five runs on eight hits and a walk.

He gave up a double off the left-center wall to Rodriguez in the sixth that
scored Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu, who ran through third base coach Bobby
Meacham's stop sign, and slid in just ahead of the relay that catcher Mike
Redmond could not handle.

Rodriguez advanced on the throw and Sexson followed with his sacrifice fly
to make it 5-0.

Game notes
There are 26 home games remaining at Yankee Stadium. The Twins are 3-19 in
the Bronx since the start of the 2002 season. ... Twins All-Star catcher Joe
Mauer was given the day off. ... The Twins have been swept five times this
season.