Giambi Finding His Way

Jason Giambi keeps making the Oakland Athletics wish he never had left.

Giambi homered and drove in three runs against his former team, and Roger Clemens won his third consecutive start as the New York Yankees defeated the A’s, 9-2, Thursday night at New York.

Giambi, who left Oakland in the off-season for a $120 million, seven-year contract in New York, lifted a low breaking ball from Cory Lidle over the right-field fence for a two-run shot in the sixth inning, snapping a 2-2 tie and bringing loud cheers when he came out of the dugout for a curtain call.

“I said, ‘They’re asking you for more, go out there and give it to them,’” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “He needed that. It was an impact night for him.”

In his first series back in Oakland, Giambi hit a go-ahead, two-run double to defeat the A’s last week.

With the New York City area under a rare tornado watch, a sparse crowd announced at 30,463 showed up on a gloomy night in the Bronx and wound up giving Giambi his biggest cheers since his arrival. He has hit only two of his five home runs at Yankee Stadium.

“It’s exciting to have those guys give you standing O’s,” Giambi said. “Every day I get more and more comfortable with calling this place home.”

Clemens (4-2) earned his 284th victory, passing Jim Kaat on the career list and catching Ferguson Jerkins for 25th place.

Kaat is now a Yankees’ broadcaster.

“It was neat. I knew I was coming up on Kitty,” Clemens said. “To pass Kitty and tie Fergie is a great honor. Two great men and two great pitchers. I mean, Kitty pitched for what, 24 or 25 years. It’s amazing. And to do it here with Kitty in the ballpark announcing the game, it was a real treat for me.”

Derek Jeter went three for four with a walk and scored twice, and Robin Ventura had three hits and two runs batted in for the Yankees, who took four of six from their playoff rivals in the last 10 days.

Texas 5, Toronto 3--Frank Catalanotto hit an RBI double off Mike Smith (0-2) in a four-run fifth inning at Toronto, and the Rangers extended their winning streak to a season-high five. The Rangers have won seven of eight, improving to 12-15 with their longest winning streak since last July 24-27.

Toronto, which tied a season-high with three errors, has lost eight in a row for the first time since June 20-27, 1995. The crowd of 13,011 was the second-lowest ever at SkyDome, ahead of only the 12,571 Tuesday night.

Rob Bell (2-0) gave up three runs and four hits in 52/3 innings, and Hideki Irabu pitched the ninth for his sixth save.

Minnesota 7, Tampa Bay 6-- Corey Koskie hit his second homer of the game in the 10th inning, capping a comeback from a six-run deficit as the Twins completed a four-game sweep at Minneapolis.

Minnesota trailed, 6-0, after six innings but scored four runs in the seventh and tied it in the ninth on Doug Mientkiewicz’s two-run single off Steve Kent (0-1) with two out and two strikes.

Tampa Bay, which has lost seven in a row, was swept by the Twins for the first time and also went winless on a road trip of two stops or more for the first time.

Baltimore 6, Kansas City 2--Sidney Ponson (2-2) gave up one run and six hits in seven innings at Baltimore to defeat the Royals for the second time in six days and dropping Kansas City interim manager John Mizerock to 0-3.

David Segui, Tony Batista and Jeff Conine homered off Paul Byrd (4-2) to give Baltimore a 4-0 lead after three innings.