Blue Jays' Wells Wins 20th Game

T O R O N T O, Sept. 22 -- After winning his 20th game, David Wells talkedmore about beating his former team than reaching a milestone.

Wells became the majors’ first 20-game winner, pitching afive-hitter to send the New York Yankees to their fifth straightloss, 3-1 to the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday night.

“It’s always special when you beat those guys,” said Wells, who was traded by the Yankees for Roger Clemens. “They’re my brothers, and it’s tough to leave a team that you love. But even though they’re my close friends, they’re my enemies.”

Wells (20-6), at 37 years and 124 days old, failed in his firstthree attempts to reach the milestone before becoming thesecond-oldest pitcher to win 20 games for the first time.

“It’s something to cherish when you retire,” Wells said. “But we’re in a pennant race and we should be focused on that.”

To ‘Heck’ With the Wild Card

The Yankees matched their longest losing streak of the seasonand have dropped seven of eight. They have been outscored 60-19 inthat span and their lead in the American League East fell to 4½ games overToronto. New York’s magic number remains seven.

“I see a good ball club over there, but they’re very beatable,” Wells said. “They’re not as stellar as they were from ’96-’99. When you put a dent in them like we did the last three games, it shows other teams that they can be beat.”

The Blue Jays, 2½ games behind Cleveland and Oakland in the American Leaguewild card race, swept the Yankees in a three-game series for thefirst time since 1992. Toronto has won four straight overall.

“We need a lot of help and hopefully we’ll get it, and to heckwith the wild card, let’s go for the American League East,” Wellssaid.

Wells, who improved to 16-8 against his former team, pitched hisAL-leading eighth complete game and the 43rd of his career. Hestruck out eight and walked none for his 14th walkless game of theseason.