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Saturday, Apr. 8 4:05pm ET
O'Neill drives in game-winner vs. Seattle | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
SEATTLE (AP) -- Even though he is 37-years old and coming off his worst season as a New York Yankee, Paul O'Neill's teammates still have confidence in him. O'Neill hit an RBI double in the ninth inning to break a tie and give the New York Yankees a 3-2 win over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday. "Everyone wants to write him off because he had a bad year last year, but he can hit," said Derek Jeter, who scored the winning run. With two outs in the ninth, Jeter singled off Jose Mesa (1-1) and stole second base on his own. "I want to run more this year," Jeter said. "We were struggling to score runs today." O'Neill then hit a line drive to right-center to score Jeter and give the Yankees the lead. O'Neill, whose batting average fell off 32 points to .285 last season, is 7-for-7 with two doubles lifetime against Mesa, who lost his closer's job in Seattle to Japan's Kazuhiro Sasaki on the final day of spring training. "I enjoy it when I get a hit," said O'Neill, who said he was unaware of his success against Mesa. "It's a great feeling." Seattle manager Lou Piniella didn't blame the loss on Mesa. "I thought Mesa threw the ball pretty well," he said. "But Jeter is a pretty good hitter and so is O'Neill." Jeff Nelson (1-0) came on with a runner on second and one out in the eighth and got two outs for the win. Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his third save. Tino Martinez gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead when he led off the second off Gil Meche with his second homer of the season, a 399-foot shot to center field. Orlando Hernandez gave up Raul Ibanez's first homer of the season to lead off the fifth for Seattle to tie the score at 1. Alex Rodriguez, Seattle's main offensive weapon, struck out twice and was 0-for-3 against Hernandez. "Orlando gives you a lot of arm angles," he said. "He's very deceiving. He's just a very good pitcher." The Mariners went ahead 2-1 when Ibanez's slowly hit roller up the first-base line with the bases loaded went under Hernandez's glove. Hernandez was mad at himself for not making the play. "That never should have happened," he said. Alfonso Soriano, playing third base in place of the ailing Scott Brosius, homered off Frankie Rodriguez to lead off the Yankees' seventh. Hernandez gave up two runs and seven hits in seven innings, with nine strikeouts. Meche, who battled tightness in his right shoulder this spring, allowed one run and four hits in 4 1/3 innings. Game notesMartinez homered for the third time in six games at Safeco Field against his old team. He homered twice at Safeco last Aug. 5. Martinez has hit 13 home runs against the Mariners since being acquired by New York from Seattle after the 1995 season. ... 2B Chuck Knoblauch, who led the Yankees with 26 errors last season, made his first error of the season when he bobbled Stan Javier's grounder in the fourth. ... Ibanez is 4-for-12 lifetime with two homers against Hernandez. ... The Mariners had their second sellout of the season with a crowd of 45,261. ... The Mariners are 1-for-10 for the year with the bases loaded. ... Piniella said DH Edgar Martinez might be able to play on Sunday against the Yankees. He missed his fourth game in a row with a bruised left elbow suffered in spring training when he was hit by a pitch. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard NY Yankees Clubhouse Seattle Clubhouse RECAPS Baltimore 2 Detroit 1
NY Yankees 3
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