BALTIMORE — Bidding for his 200th victory, David Wells was virtually unhittable — two innings too late.
Larry Bigbie and Jay Gibbons homered, and the Baltimore Orioles got a fine pitching performance from Eric DuBose in defeating Wells and the New York Yankees 5-3 last night at Camden Yards.
Juan Rivera homered for New York, which maintained its 51/2-game lead over Boston in the American League East when the Red Sox lost to Tampa Bay 7-0. The Yankees, whose magic number to clinch the division is five, were 10-1 in their previous 11 games.
Wells (14-7) went the distance, allowing only one hit over his final six innings and retiring the final 13 batters. But the left-hander was undone by a poor start as Baltimore scored five runs on six hits to take a 5-0 second-inning lead.
“He just didn’t look like he was comfortable,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said. “He was throwing good — he had a good bullpen. When he came in, he made some pitches down the middle, and they whacked him. After that, he was terrific.”
The only runner against Wells over the final six innings was Deivi Cruz, who hit a one-out single in the fourth. He was wiped out attempting to steal.
“With the good ones, you’ve got to get them early because late in the game they’re tough,” Orioles manager Mike Hargrove said.
It was only Wells’ second road loss of the season — both this month. He gave up seven hits, walked none and struck out four in his 42nd career complete game. Wells was bidding to become the 99th pitcher in major league history to reach 200 victories.
“It doesn’t matter if I win or if someone else wins,” he said. “It’s if the team gets the win. I’m not even thinking about that.”
DuBose (3-5) allowed three runs in 6⅔ innings for the Orioles, who won for only the fifth time in their last 23 games against the Yankees.
Note — Today’s game has been moved to 12:35p.m. from 7:05p.m. because of the threat of bad weather from Hurricane Isabel.
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