Yankees rally to beat Royals 7-5

<br>KANSAS CITY, Missouri, (AP) _ Raul Mondesi hit a two-run homer with one out in the ninth inning and Bernie Williams went 5-for-5 Thursday as the New York Yankees rallied for a 7-5 victory over the

Friday, August 16th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

KANSAS CITY, Missouri, (AP) _ Raul Mondesi hit a two-run homer with one out in the ninth inning and Bernie Williams went 5-for-5 Thursday as the New York Yankees rallied for a 7-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals to complete a three-game sweep.

Williams led off the ninth against Roberto Hernandez (1-3) with a single, tying his career high with five hits. He moved to second on a groundout, bringing up Mondesi, who hit his 23rd homer.

Jorge Posada added an RBI single for the Yankees, who matched last year's total by winning for the 17th time in their last at-bat and moved a season-high 31 games over .500.

Hernandez blew his seventh save in 26 chances as the Royals lost for the fifth time this season when leading after eight innings.

Mike Stanton (6-1) got the win and Mariano Rivera earned the his 27th save.

Devil Rays 4, Indians 3

In St. Petersburg, Florida, Andy Sheets hit a game-ending, three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lead Tampa Bay past Cleveland.

After Karim Garcia's two-run homer gave the Indians a 3-1 lead in the top of the ninth, the Devil Rays rallied to win it in the bottom half.

Aubrey Huff and Steve Cox had consecutive one-out singles against Mark Wohlers (2-3). One out later, Sheets hit his fourth homer of the year.

Travis Harper (5-6) got the win.

Orioles 3, Twins 1

In Minneapolis, Melvin Mora hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning to lift Jason Johnson and Baltimore past Minnesota.

Chris Singleton also homered for the Orioles, who have won five of their past six games against Minnesota the last two weeks.

Johnson (4-9) allowed one run, struck out five and walked one in seven strong innings. One night after blowing a ninth-inning lead, Jorge Julio got two outs for his 25th save in 31 chances.

Kyle Lohse (10-7) gave up just two runs in seven-plus innings for Twins, who lost a home series for the first time since dropping two of three games to Atlanta in June.

Mariners 4, Red Sox 3

In Seattle, Freddy Garcia won for the second time since the All-Star break as Seattle used four unearned runs in the fourth inning to edge Boston.

Carlos Guillen, Ichiro Suzuki and Jeff Cirillo had RBI singles for the Mariners, who increased their lead in the AL West to 1 1/2 games over Anaheim.

Cliff Floyd homered and Trot Nixon hit a two-run double for Boston, which dropped six games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East and 2 1/2 behind the Angels in the wildcard race.

Garcia (13-8) outpitched Casey Fossum (2-2) as the Mariners took two of three in the series. Kazuhiro Sasaki worked the ninth for his 30th save in 35 opportunities, retiring Nomar Garciaparra, Manny Ramirez and Floyd in order.