Tigers Beat Minnesota, 1962 Met’s Record

The scoreboard flashed “Victory!” while “Celebration” boomed over the stadium sound system. Players hugged on the field as fans stood and cheered.

For the Detroit Tigers, this was their version of a playoff game.

Mike Maroth and his teammates went out as winners, beating AL Central champion Minnesota 9-4 Sunday to avoid matching the 1962 New York Mets’ modern-day record of 120 losses.

“Believe it or not, I can look back on this year with a smile on my face because of how this season ended,” said Maroth, the first pitcher since 1980 to lose at least 20 games.

Roger Clemens was feeling fine, too. A day after earning his 310th victory, the Rocket picked up his first win – as a manager.

With his New York Yankees headed to the playoffs, Joe Torre stepped aside and let Clemens run the team.

Clemens, who plans to retire after this season, began by having All-Star outfielder Bernie Williams take out the lineup card.

“I don’t know how long he’s been here, but I guarantee he doesn’t know the ground rules at Yankee Stadium,” Clemens said.

Then in the eighth inning, Clemens walked to the mound and pulled David Wells, who earned his 200th win in a 3-1 victory over Baltimore.

“I knew he was manager for a day, but I didn’t know how far they were going to take it,” Wells said. “When he got to the line, I just started laughing.”

In other AL games, Tampa Bay beat Boston 3-1, Seattle defeated Oakland 9-3, Toronto topped Cleveland 6-2, Chicago beat Kansas City 5-1 and Anaheim downed Texas 4-1.

The Tigers (43-119) won for the fifth time in six games, their best stretch over a half-dozen games this year. The Mets set the post-1900 record for defeats in their expansion season, going 40-120.

“We’re not going to worry about what people say about our record,” said Dmitri Young, who hit a go-ahead single.

“We got it together down the stretch and played some top-notch baseball. I’m leaving here happy. The only sad thing is we finally got rolling as a team and now we are breaking up for the winter.” The crowd of 18,959 at Comerica Park saluted Maroth (9-21) and the Tigers after the final out.

“Not too long ago, everybody thought we were going to break the record, but we showed what we were made of as people and players,” Maroth said.

Said first-year manager Alan Trammell: “To have that off our back, it’s a relief.”

Yankees 3, Orioles 1

Alfonso Soriano launched a two-run homer and Drew Henson got his first major league hit for the AL East champions.

New York posted its 101st victory, tied with Atlanta for most in the majors. Next up is Game 1 of the playoffs against Minnesota on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.

Devil Rays 3, Red Sox 1

Bill Mueller won the batting title, finishing a point ahead of Boston teammate Manny Ramirez.

Mueller went 0-for-1 as a pinch-hitter and wound up at .326 while Ramirez did not play. The wild-card Red Sox start the playoffs Wednesday at Oakland.

Boston shortstop Nomar Garciaparra got permission to miss the finale at Tampa Bay. He traveled to Columbus, Ohio, to watch his fiance, Mia Hamm, at the Women’s World Cup. Hamm sat out as the United States beat North Korea 3-0.

The Devil Rays won their second in a row and ended with 99 losses. Under new manager Lou Piniella, they avoided becoming the 11th team to lose 100 games in three straight seasons.

Mariners 9, Athletics 3

Jamie Moyer set a team record with his 21st victory and Seattle finished off a three-game sweep of the AL West champions.

Edgar Martinez, the Mariners’ 40-year-old designated hitter, went 1-for-5 at Safeco Field. He’ll decide after the season if he’ll retire.

White Sox 5, Royals 1

Esteban Loaiza pitched no-hit ball into the seventh inning and got his 21st victory in what might have been Jerry Manuel’s final game as Chicago’s manager.

Julius Matos doubled with two outs in the seventh for Kansas City’s first hit. Loaiza struck out eight and finished with a league-leading 207, one ahead of Boston’s Pedro Martinez.

The host Royals finished 83-79, their best record since a 64-51 mark in the strike-shortened 1994 season.

Blue Jays 6, Indians 2

Carlos Delgado hit a grand slam in his final at-bat and left with a major league-leading 145 RBIs.

Delgado, who hit four home runs Thursday night, hit his 42nd homer in the first inning at Toronto. He exited before the top of the second.

Cleveland went 68-94, its worst record since going 57-105 in 1991.

Angels 4, Rangers 1

Barry Wesson hit his first major league homer as the defending World Series champions wrapped up a disappointing season.

Anaheim wound up 77-85, a year after posting a team-record 99 victories and winning the wild-card slot.

Texas came in last for the fourth straight year, going 71-91 in Buck Showalter’s first season as manager.