Yankees Stay Hot Against White Sox

The biggest crowd of the year at Chicago’s Comiskey Park saw the New York Yankees do what they do best--win.

Bernie Williams homered, doubled and drove in four runs, and the Yankees’ offense had another big game, defeating the White Sox, 10-6, Monday.

The crowd of 43,781 was the biggest at new Comiskey for the Yankees, and many of the fans rooted for the Bronx Bombers.

“It’s still very exciting to play in front of large crowds. Our motivation still goes up,” Williams said.

New York Manager Joe Torre, whose club has won 16 of 20, said there are Yankee fans everywhere.

“We draw a crowd wherever we go. We have guys, like [Derek] Jeter and [Jason] Giambi, who people want to see,” Torre said.

Nick Johnson hit a three-run homer, and Rondell White had three hits and two runs batted in, and New York scored in double digits for the second consecutive game.

“We’re not trying to hit homers,” Williams said. “In my mind, we’re still trying to win with pitching and defense. The home runs are just a bonus.”

Mike Thurman (1-0), pitching in place of injured Orlando Hernandez and making his first AL start, gave up two runs and seven hits in seven innings.

Boston 8, Toronto 6--Nomar Garciaparra homered and drove in three runs, and Jason Varitek also had three runs batted in at Toronto, and the Red Sox sent the Blue Jays to their fourth consecutive defeat and sixth in seven games.

Raul Mondesi drove in a season-high four runs for the Blue Jays, including a two-run homer in the ninth against Rich Garces that cut the deficit to 8-6. Ugueth Urbina replaced Garces and earned his 16th save in 17 chances.

Minnesota 5, Texas 2--Torii Hunter of the Twins hit his 14th home run to tie for the AL lead and drove in three runs at Arlington, Texas.

First baseman Rafael Palmeiro homered for the Rangers, who lost their fourth in a row.

Palmeiro hit his 11th homer leading off the sixth, giving him 1,500 runs batted in. He became the 39th player to reach the milestone.

Detroit 4, Cleveland 1--Mark Redman pitched a career-best four-hitter at Cleveland and defeated the Indians for the second time in a week.

Redman (2-5) mixed a few slow breaking pitches with his fastball and improved to 4-1 with a 2.27 earned-run average in five starts against Cleveland.

Redman gave up a second-inning home run to Ellis Burks, a two-out single to Ricky Gutierrez in the fifth and two singles in the ninth.