Twins End Yanks' Win Streak

(AP)  One subtle change, one small adjustment to a 20-year-old pitching motion, was all it took to cool off the New York Yankees.

Mike Morgan tried a new look to his windup Saturday night and came one out away from his first shutout in five years, leading the Minnesota Twins to an 8-1 victory that ended New York's eight-game winning streak.

After struggling in his last two outings, Morgan (1-1) came to a set position with his glove in front of his face, instead of at the belt as he had done throughout most of a major league career that began in 1978. He credited that alteration for the pinpoint control that kept the Yankees off balance all night long.

"I had a better angle on my pitches," Morgan said after getting his first win for the Twins, his 10th major league team. "I'm not saying I was perfect by any means, but the mistakes I did make, they were popping those up and hitting grounders right at people."

Morgan gave up seven hits, struck out four and walked one in 8 2-3 innings. His last shutout came on July 15, 1993, with the Chicago Cubs.

"The old man was awesome tonight," said Matt Lawton, whose sixth-inning grand slam broke open a close game.

The Yankees lost for only the third time in 25 games, though they still have the best record in the majors at 23-7. The Twins won for just the fourth time in 11 games.

"We'll bounce back (Sunday)," said Darryl Strawberry, who struck out in his first two at-bats against Morgan. "Everyone is going to lose, and we have the type of team that will come back hard."

New York's only run was unearned as the Twins lowered their AL-leading team ERA to 4.10.

Morgan gave up a two-out single to Chad Curtis and Scott Brosius followed with a single off Morgan's glove. The ball rolled to second baseman Brent Gates and his hurried throw was dropped by first baseman Orlando Merced for an error, allowing Curtis to score.

Morgan gave way to Hector Carrasco for the final out, missing out on his 46th complete game and 11th shutout.

"Yeah, I was sniffing it there, by all means," Morgan said of the near-miss at a shutout. "They're hard to come by in this business. But the bottom line is we won."

Javier Valentin drove in Minnesota's first two runs with a second-inning double, and Denny Hocking added a sacrifice fly in the inning for a 3-0 lead.

Lawton, who failed with the bases loaded with one out in the eighth inning of Friday's 5-1 loss, was on an 8-for-45 slide when he came up with two outs in the sixth Saturday.

"I was like, `OK, here we go again,' " Lawton said.

This time, he saved the Twins from coming up empty for the second time in the game with the bases loaded and no outs.

After Gates and Valentin failed to drive in a rn, Lawton hit a 423-foot drive to right-center field for his second career grand slam. That made it 7-0 and finished Andy Pettitte (5-3), who gave up the first grand slam of his career.

"I give up three runs and I thought, `No big deal,' " said Pettitte, who got out of bases-loaded, no-out jam in the first. "With our offense, I thought we'd put the pressure on them. Once it got to seven it was too much to overcome."

Booed loudly for the second straight night, Chuck Knoblauch was 0-for-4 for the Yankees. He sparked Friday's 5-1 win, his first game in the Metrodome after an offseason trade ended his seven-year career with the Twins.

Notes: The loss ended the Yankees' road winning streak at nine games and prevented them from sweeping their fourth straight road series. ... Valentin threw out Derek Jeter trying to steal second to end the first inning, the first time Jeter has been caught in 10 attempts this season. ... The Twins came into the game hitting .245 with runners in scoring position in the last 15 games. They were 5-for-14 in those situations Saturday. ... New York manager Joe Torre met briefly before the game with pitcher David Wells, who blew most of a 9-0 lead Wednesday at Texas and was visibly angry when Torre removed him from the game. Wells, whose weight has been an issue this season, initiated Saturday's closed-door meeting. ... Twins rookie David Ortiz went 3-for-4 but left the game with a sore wrist in the eighth inning. His status for Sunday's game was uncertain.

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