TONIGHT IN THE AMERICAN LEAGUE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NY Yankees (23-18) at Chi White Sox (19-20) 2:05 PM EDT ---------------------------------------------------------------- CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Hoping to avoid losing their fourth straight series, the New York Yankees send David Cone to the mound this afternoon as they face the Chicago White Sox in the finale of a three-game set. After Friday's opener was rained out, the teams split a doubleheader on Saturday. The Yankees posted a 10-2 victory in the opener behind Roger Clemens, who set an American League record with his 18th straight victory. But Mike Sirotka outdueled Andy Pettitte in the second game as the White Sox gained a split with a 2-1 victory. New York, which lost just seven series all of last season, is at risk of losing a series for the fifth time in 1999. The Yankees were swept in three games by Anaheim before losing two of three to both Chicago and Boston. Cone (4-2, 1.69), the major league leader in ERA, has dropped his last two starts after opening the season 4-0. Easily New York's most effective pitcher over ther first quarter of the season, Cone lost his highly-anticipated battle with Boston's Pedro Martinez on Tuesday, 6-3, allowing three runs and seven hits over six innings. Cone has been victimized by poor run support lately as he was on the short end of a 1-0 decision to Chuck Finley and the Angels on May 12. But the righthander has allowed no more than three runs in any of his eight outings this season. The White Sox counter with righthander Jamie Navarro (2-4, 7.13), who hopes to rebound from a disastrous outing. He surrendered nine runs and eight hits over just 1 2/3 innings in Monday's 13-9 loss to the Cleveland Indians. Navarro tossed a season-high eight innings in his previous outing, allowing just one run and four hits in a 5-2 victory over Texas on May 10. Chicago, which snapped a five-game losing streak Saturday, is trying to win a series from New York for the second time in just over a week. Seattle (21-21) at Kansas City (21-20) 2:05 pm EDT ---------------------------------------------------------------- KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- The scorching Seattle Mariners seek their seventh straight win today as they square off against the Kansas City Royals in the finale of a three-game series. The Mariners recorded their season-high sixth consecutive victory Saturday with a 7-4 triumph over the Royals. Seattle is trying to go over .500 for the first time since it was 4-3 on April 12. As usual, Ken Griffey has led the offensive outburst by the Mariners, who have scored five runs or more in eight straight games. He had two hits Saturday and ran his hitting streak to 11 games, going 19-for-43 (.442) during that span. Today, Kevin Appier (5-2, 4.34 ERA) will try to slow down Seattle's offense. Appier is also looking to move into sole possession of fifth place on the Royals' all-time win list. He posted a 13-3 win over Oakland in his last outing on Tuesday, tying Bret Saberhagen with his 110th career victory. Appier, who also recorded his 1,400th career strikeout against the Atletics, is seeking his fourth straight victory. During the three-game winning streak, he has allowed just five runs and 15 hits over 21 2/3 innings. Seattle counters with rookie righthander Freddy Garcia (5-1, 4.50), who is coming off his best outing of the season, allowing just one run and seven hits over seven innings in Tuesday's 10-1 rout of the Minnesota Twins. Garcia has won two straight since being roughed up by the Toronto Blue Jays on May 3 for his only loss. He yielded seven runs -- six earned -- and five hits over just two innings in a 16-10 setback to the Blue Jays. Oakland (21-22) at Minnesota (15-27) 2:05 pm EDT ---------------------------------------------------------------- MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- The Oakland Athletics look to snap a five-game losing streak this afternoon when they battle the Minnesota Twins in the finale of a three-game series. The streaky Athletics have been outscored, 38-9, during their slide, which follows a six-game winning streak. Minnesota again used extra innings to defeat Oakland on Saturday as Todd Walker led off the 10th inning with a home run to give the Twins a 2-1 victory. Minnesota needed just under five hours and 15 innings to beat the Athletics by the same score on Friday. Oakland hopes for a better effort from Gil Heredia (3-3, 4.53 ERA), who was rocked for seven runs and eight hits over 6 1/3 innings in Tuesday's 13-3 loss to Kansas City. The righthander had allowed only two runs and nine hits over his previous 13 2/3 innings. Heredia is 0-1 with a 1.29 ERA lifetime against Minnesota. The Twins go with slumping Eric Milton (1-4, 7.14), who has dropped four of his last six starts. Milton surrendered seven runs and six hits over two innings in Monday 15-5 loss at Seattle. He has worked into the seventh inning in just one of his last four starts. Milton is 0-2 with a 5.57 ERA lifetime against the A's. Minnesota has won back-to-back games after a six-game losing streak. The Twins are gunning for their first three-game winning streak since September 23-25 of last season. Texas (23-19) at Baltimore (15-27) 8:05 pm EDT ---------------------------------------------------------------- BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Mike Mussina looks to extend a personal four-game winning streak tonight when the Baltimore Orioles face the Texas Rangers in the rubber game of a three-game series. Mussina (6-1, 4.68 ERA) surrendered three runs and seven hits over eight innings on Tuesday in a 5-3 win against Anaheim. During his last five starts, Mussina has given up 15 runs over 35 2/3 innings. Mussina is 8-5 with a 3.38 ERA lifetime against the Rangers. Mike Morgan (6-3, 4.89) make his ninth start of the year for the Rangers. He allowed five runs -- four earned -- and nine hits over 5 1/3 innings on Tuesday in a 5-4 loss against Tampa Bay, ending a personal two-game winning streak. Morgan has given up at least three earned runs in his last four starts. One start was against Baltimore on May 13, when he gave up five runs and nine hits over five innings in a 15-7 triumph. The win improved his career record against the Orioles to 4-9. Juan Gonzalez's ninth homer of the season, a three-run shot, highlighted a four-run ninth inning as the Rangers rallied to defeat the Orioles, 8-7, on Saturday. Texas has homered in 10 straight games. Baltimore has lost nine of its last 12 games overall but fell for just the third time in nine contests at Camden Yards.  