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  Wednesday, Apr. 19 3:05pm ET
Bellinger's solo shot in 10th wins it
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- No matter which hitter they send to the plate, the New York Yankees have the Texas Rangers' number.

Clay Bellinger hit a solo home run in the 10th inning and the Yankees completed their first three-game sweep at Texas since 1983, beating the Rangers 5-4 Wednesday for their eighth straight victory.

Lance Johnson
The Yankees' Lance Johnson, who went 4-for-6, watches his seventh-inning double.

The Yankees' winning streak is their longest since they took nine in a row in August 1998. This string started with two victories over the Rangers last week at New York.

"It's very frustrating. We put ourselves in position to win and didn't," Texas manager Johnny Oates said. "They got a home run from a utility infielder on an 0-2 pitch that was over his head."

Ivan Rodriguez, who was getting a day off, hit the first pinch-hit homer of his career. The two-run shot with two outs in the ninth inning came off Yankees closer Mariano Rivera (2-0), who had converted 27 straight save opportunities.

"You never see us get down. We're disappointed after the ninth, but we're saying let's go, let's get a few runs," said Bellinger, who had entered the game as a pinch-runner in the eighth. "We know Mo, that's not going to happen very often."

After Jeff Zimmerman (0-2) got his third straight strikeout to start the 10th, Bellinger hit a drive into the left-field seats for his second career homer.

"He can hit a fastball. I'm not sure that Jeff wanted him to hit that pitch," said Yankees manager Joe Torre. "I think he wanted to move Bell back a little, but he climbed the ladder and got it."

In the 10th, Rivera retired David Segui on a fly ball with a runner on third to end it. He earned the victory after blowing a save for the first time since losing to Atlanta last July 16 -- the same date he had allowed his last home run, to Andruw Jones.

Little-used Lance Johnson got four hits for the Yankees and starter Roger Clemens pitched four-hit ball for seven-plus innings in his longest outing of the season.

Clemens, who hadn't gone past the sixth inning in his first three starts, struck out five and walked two.

Torre pulled Clemens after he went 2-0 on Chad Curtis leading off the eighth. Clemens had stiffness in his lower back but nothing that should cause him to miss his start next week against Minnesota.

"Skip was concerned and was just being real cautious," Clemens said. "I was trying to stay in, but as he continued to question me, I couldn't deny the questions and he made up his mind then."

Jeff Nelson relieved and threw two balls to Curtis, with the walk charged to Clemens. After a force play, Luis Alicea, who had homered in the sixth, hit an RBI double.

Johnson, getting his first start of the year, went 4-for-6. He had batted only three times, all as a pinch-hitter, in the first 13 games.

"What I'm here to do is give guys a day off. Joe knows I'm going to be ready," Johnson said. "I know what I am capable of when you get into the game, it makes it more comfortable."

The score was tied 1-1 when Johnson led off the seventh with a double into the right-field corner and then stole third base uncontested off Bill Haselman, who had started in place of Rodriguez.

Johnson scored when Bernie Williams stumbled out of the box but beat out a relay to first to prevent an inning-ending double play. An inning later, Johnson added an RBI single.

Williams hit a solo home run in the ninth off Zimmerman for a 4-2 lead. It was his 18th career homer against Texas, his most versus any opponent.

While the Yankees hadn't swept a three-game series at Texas in 17 years, they have dominated the Rangers since the first game of the 1996 American League playoffs. New York has won eight straight and 37 of 48 games since then, sweeping Texas out of the American League playoffs the last two seasons.

Game notes
New York and Texas both had different leadoff hitters for the first time this season. Yankees second baseman Chuck Knoblauch and Rangers shortstop Royce Clayton got the day off. ... A baserunning mistake by rookie Alfonso Soriano resulted in a 3-2-4-5 double play in the second inning. Segui fielded a grounder right at first base, then saw Soriano almost at third where another runner already stood. Segui ran toward third but threw home when Ricky Ledee started moving that way. Two throws later, Soriano was tagged out to end the inning.

 


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