Acquiring Oliver Is Paying Off for Boston

The Boston Red Sox were so desperate to dump Carl Everett last winter that they took on underachieving Darren Oliver.

New York is wishing they hadn’t.

Oliver pitched 52/3 shutout innings Friday night, leading the Red Sox to a 3-2 victory over the Yankees at Fenway Park and improving to 6-1 in his career against New York.

“I really have no explanation for that,” Oliver said. “I was just trying to keep the ball down. I don’t know how they approach me when I’m out there.”

The Yankees lost their third consecutive game despite four hits by Jason Giambi.

Nick Johnson homered to lead off the ninth and pull New York within a run, but Ugueth Urbina finished the inning for his fourth save.

Oliver (1-0) had an 11-11 record with a 6.02 earned-run average last year and was scheduled to make $7 million this season, so when Boston needed to unload Everett, the Rangers were willing to deal.

Oliver picked up his first victory since Aug. 28, giving up five hits and three walks and striking out four.

Orlando Hernandez (1-1) showed no ill effects of a stiff neck that pushed him back one day in the rotation.

He gave up two runs, nine hits and two walks, and struck out five in seven innings.

Cleveland 3, Kansas City 1--The host Indians won their ninth in a row and matched their best start as C.C. Sabathia again defeated the Royals.

Jim Thome and Omar Vizquel each homered for the second consecutive game and the Indians improved to 10-1, tying the fastest start in the club’s 102-year history. Cleveland started 10-1 in 1959 and 1966.

Sabathia (2-0), who earned four of his 17 victories as a rookie last season in five starts against Kansas City, struck out nine in six innings. He gave up five singles and walked four.

Chicago 5, Baltimore 2--Left-hander Mark Buehrle gave up two hits in seven innings to win his third consecutive start and Jose Valentin, Sandy Alomar Jr. and Ray Durham each homered to lead the White Sox in front of 41,128 at Comiskey Park.

Buehrle (3-0) gave up a solo homer in the seventh inning to Marty Cordova, activated from the disabled list earlier in the day, and a single to David Segui.

Valentin’s two-run homer against Josh Towers (0-2) in the fourth inning put the White Sox ahead. Alomar led off the fifth with a homer and three batters later, Durham hit a two-run blast.

Seattle 7, Texas 3--Ruben Sierra, the four-time all-star who resurrected his career in Texas, hit a grand slam in his first at-bat against his former team.

Sierra’s fifth career grand slam, his first homer for Seattle, gave the Mariners a 5-0 lead in the first inning at Arlington, Texas.

“I feel good that I did that and I helped my team to win,” Sierra said.

Jamie Moyer (1-1), pulled after a leadoff walk in the sixth, gave up two runs on four hits. He struck out four and walked four.

Sierra, 36, batted .291 with 23 homers for Texas last season, but he was not offered a contract after the season.

Toronto 14, Tampa Bay 7--Carlos Delgado’s three-run homer at St. Petersburg, Fla., capped a seven-run third inning for the Blue Jays.

Felipe Lopez and Raul Mondesi drove in three runs apiece for the Blue Jays, who scored four times in the seventh after the Devil Rays pulled within 8-7.

Ben Grieve hit two solo homers for Tampa Bay, giving him three home runs in his last two games and four this season.