Yankees safe at home, crush Tigers

The only object that dropped out of the sky at Yankee Stadium onFriday night was Darryl Strawberry's towering home run.

Back in their own ballpark, closed for 11 days after a 500-poundexpansion joint crashed from the upper deck, the New York Yankeesdefeated the Detroit Tigers 8-4 for their 12th win in 13 games.

Owner George Steinbrenner watched the first five inning in thesame section where the chunk of steel and concrete fell - but not theexact seat that was crushed - and was surrounded by a half-dozen fanswearing hard hats."It was great," Steinbrenner said. "It was like old times whenyou're a kid, going with a bunch of guys."All things considered, it was a rather tame night at YankeeStadium until the eighth, when the benches and bullpens cleared afterNew York catcher Joe Girardi angrily headed toward the Detroit dugoutfollowing a two-run double by Bobby Higginson.The incident occurred moments after Tigers manager Buddy Bellargued with plate umpire Jim Evans, claiming New York reliever MikeStanton had hit Joe Randa with a pitch in retaliation for a Yankeesbatter being plunked.David Cone (2-1) pitched the Yankees to their fourth straightvictory, improving the AL's best record to 13-5. Detroit dropped itsthird in a row overall and ninth straight on the road, and has themajors' worst record (4-15).Red Sox 7, Indians 5: Darren Bragg continued to rip Clevelandpitching and Tim Wakefield (1-1) overcame a poor first inning to leadvisiting Boston. The Red Sox, off to their best start through 21games since 1946, have won five straight and 12 of 13.Wakefield retired 16 straight after yielding three runs and fourhits to the first four batters he faced.Bragg hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning, giving him sevenhits in his last 11 at-bats (.636) against Cleveland.Angels 10, Devil Rays 3: Damon Mashore drove in three runs andJim Edmonds and Darin Erstad each had two RBI to back Allen Watson'seight-hitter as Anaheim defeated Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, Fla.Wilson Alvarez (3-2) took the loss. Watson's record improved to1-2.Athletics 10, Orioles 1: Scott Spiezio homered in a six-runfirst inning that sent Kenny Rogers and Oakland to its first roadvictory this season in the rout over Baltimore.Royals 11, Rangers 4: Jeff King hit a three-run homer in KansasCity's eight-run third inning off John Burkett, lifting the Royalsover visiting Texas.Mariners 4, Twins 2: Edgar Martinez, homerless since OpeningDay, connected twice as host Seattle beat Minnesota and reached .500for the first time since April 8. The Mariners (11-11) are 8-1 sincea seven-game losing streak.