Ty Wigginton and B.J. Upton homered Saturday night, spoiling Randy Johnson's bid to become the American League's third 18-game winner and leading the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to an 8-0 victory over the New York Yankees.
J.P. Howell (1-3) allowed three hits in seven scoreless innings for his first major league victory since last Sept. 26, when he pitched five innings for Kansas City in a combined 5-0 shutout at Minnesota.
Rocco Baldelli doubled to drive in two runs against Johnson (17-11) in the third and Wigginton hit his 22nd homer for a 3-0 lead in the fourth. Upton's two-run shot in the sixth was his first in 42 games since being recalled from triple-A Durham.
Wigginton, who was 3-for-4 with three RBIs, added a two-run single off Jose Veras in the seventh.
In failing to join teammate Chien-Ming Wang and Minnesota's Johan Santana as the only 18-game winners in the majors, Johnson allowed five runs and seven hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out seven.
Howell allowed singles to Robinson Cano in the second and Derek Jeter in the fourth, as well as a double to Hideki Matsui in the seventh. The 23-year-old left-hander walked two and struck out three before being replaced by Dan Miceli at the start of the eighth.
Juan Salas pitched the ninth for Tampa Bay to finish the four-hitter, the fourth time the Yankees have been shut out this season.
The Devil Rays won for just the fourth times in 16 games against the Yankees this year. Amazingly, the last-place team is 40-39 at home but 37 games under .500 on the road (19-56), including a 2-28 mark since July 1.
Johnson, who won six of his previous seven decisions, lost for the first time since Seattle beat him 4-2 on Aug. 23. In three starts against the Devil Rays this season, he's 1-2 and has allowed 16 earned runs in 16 innings.
Howell allowed one runner past second base and worked out of potentially troublesome spots in the second and sixth.
Gary Sheffield, making his second start at first base for the Yankees, walked and moved to third on Cano's single with one out in the second. Howell escaped when Matsui hit a checked-swing, soft liner back to the pitcher, who then threw to first base to double off Cano.
Bobby Abreu walked and Alex Rodriguez was hit by a pitch with two outs in the sixth. Sheffield, hitless in five at-bats since spending more than three months on the disabled list with a wrist injury, flied out to end the threat.
Notes: Wigginton has three homers in 25 career at-bats against Johnson. ... Yankees CF Johnny Damon sat out for the third straight game since cutting his throwing hand making a diving catch in Toronto on Tuesday. He could return to the lineup on Sunday. ... After an impressive debut at first base Friday night, Sheffield committed his first error at his new position when he dropped Johnson's throw to first base on Ben Zobrist's fifth-inning bunt. ... The Yankees were blanked for the first time since losing 5-0 at Kansas City on Sept. 5.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
