Yanks Lose To Slumping Twins

It was just another start for Eric Milton, only this time he got the win.

Milton allowed one run in 7 1-3 innings, baffling his former team for the second time in six days, as the Minnesota Twins beat the New York Yankees 6-1 Saturday night to snap a five-game losing streak.

"That's well passed me," said Milton on pitching against the team that drafted him in 1996. "It's just another team, another start."

"It's really nothing special. I was only in the minor leagues there," said Milton, who was named Yankees' minor league pitcher of the year in 1997. "They wanted Knoblauch. They got him and they won the World Series."

"Baseball's a business," he added. "It's always been a business. I'm happy to get my opportunity here. I'm living a dream out here."

Jacque Jones had two doubles and two RBIs for Minnesota and Cristian Guzman hit a key RBI bunt single.

Roger Clemens (11-6), who defeated Milton and the Twins earlier in the week allowed five runs and nine hits in 6 2-3 innings as New York lost for the third time in four games.

Clemens walked two and struck out seven, but wasn't quite as sharp as in his last outing. On Monday, he gave up four hits and walked one in 2-3 scoreless innings.

Despite the loss, Clemens said he felt good.

"This is the best I've felt all year," he said. "My splitter and slider were good."

"I think Minnesota is a very aggressive team," Clemens added. "They're going to put the ball in play and on this turf it makes the game a little quicker."

The Yankees, after scoring nine runs Friday, reverted back to struggling at the plate. Scott Brosius went 1-for-3 and is in a 2-for-37 slump. Chuck Knoblauch went 1-for-4 and has three hits in his last 17 at-bats. Tino Martinez was 0-for-4 and has one hit in his last 16 at-bats.

"I have to give Milton credit ... good fastball, changeup," manager Joe Torre said. "Give him a lot of credit for two straight good outings against us."

New York's only run came in the eighth on Derek Jeter's run-scoring single that chased Milton. Jeter went 2-for-4 and tied his career-high of 84 RBIs, which he set last season.

The Yankees loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth, but Eddie Guardado got Martinez on a flyout to Torii Hunter at the right-field wall. Guardado got five outs for his second save.

Minnesota scored three runs in the second. Ron Coomer led off with a single and moved to third on Corey Koskie's double. Two outs later, Guzman laid down a perfect bunt to the left of Clemens, scoring Coomer. Jones followed with a two-run double to make it 3-0.

Marty Cordova hit an RBI single with two outs in the seventh to chase Clemens. Coomer added a run-scoring infield single off Ramiro Mendoza to make it 5-0.

"We managed to get two good innings and score enough runs," Twins manager Tom Kelly said.

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