Yankees’ Wells Gets Past Jitters, Orioles

The schedule said it was the second game of a long, 162-game season. To David Wells, it was much more.

For Wells, it was the first game of his reborn baseball career.

“I was nervous all day,” he said. “This was my first start since [June], and it was a big night for me--being back with the team I’ve always loved.”

Wells ultimately fought off the uncharacteristic case of jitters, pitching marvelously into the eighth inning as the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 1-0, Wednesday night at Baltimore.

Robin Ventura homered over the right-field wall in the seventh inning against Jason Johnson to break up an outstanding pitching duel.

Signed by New York as a free agent in January, Wells (1-0) looked every bit as good as he did during his first stint with the Yankees, when he had a 34-14 record in 1997-98 and pitched a perfect game.

The left-hander gave up four hits, walked one and struck out one in 71/3 innings.

It was Wells’ first start since June, when he cut short a disappointing 5-7 season with the Chicago White Sox to undergo back surgery.

“Since 8 this morning, when I woke up, I’ve been climbing the walls. I was really antsy today,” he said.

After being hitless in New York’s 10-3 loss to Baltimore on opening day, Ventura walked and singled before driving an 0-1 pitch over the right-field scoreboard in the seventh inning.

“It was an off-speed pitch that he left up a little bit,” Ventura said. “I think the wind kind of helped it a bit. The ball was hooking, and it brought it back to the line.”

Obtained in a trade with the New York Mets for David Justice, Ventura has 16 career homers against the Orioles, most against any major league team except Detroit.

Baltimore failed to put a runner in scoring position through the first six innings, wasting leadoff singles by Jay Gibbons, Singleton and Melvin Mora in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

“David Wells is a very good pitcher. He pitches in probably as good as anyone in the league,” Oriole Manager Mike Hargrove said. “He changed speeds well tonight, too, and really kept us off balance.”

Johnson (0-1) gave up six hits in 72/3 innings, walking one and striking out six. He has lost seven consecutive decisions since July 7.

“We pitched well enough, we played defense well enough, we hit the ball hard enough,” Hargrove said.

Tampa Bay 2, Detroit 1--Randy Winn ended an 0-for-10 slump with a run-scoring single in the 12th inning to lift the Devil Rays at St. Petersburg, Fla.

The Devil Rays, who lost an American League-high 100 games last season, are off to the first 2-0 start in the team’s five-year history.

Winn’s game-winning hit off Jeff Farnsworth (0-1) drove in Brent Abernathy from second base. Abernathy led off the inning with his third hit and advanced to second on Chris Gomez’s bunt.

Minnesota 1, Kansas City 0--Eric Milton (1-0) gave up two first-inning singles, then retired 19 batters in a row at Kansas City, Mo.

Milton, who was 15-7 last season, struck out two and walked none in seven innings to outduel Dan Reichert (0-1). Eddie Guardado pitched the ninth for his second save.

Jacque Jones led off the third inning with a single and scored on David Ortiz’s single.

Seattle 7, Chicago 6--Bret Boone’s run-scoring single with two out in the ninth inning capped a four-run rally by the Mariners.

The Mariners trailed, 6-3, when John Olerud singled leading off the ninth against Keith Foulke (0-1). One-out singles by Jeff Cirillo and pinch-hitter Ruben Sierra loaded the bases. Carlos Guillen hit a two-run single and Ichiro Suzuki’s single tied the score.