Wang leads NY Yankees to solid win

Starting pitcher Wang Chien-ming (王建民) got his first major-league victory as the New York Yankees overcame a two-run deficit against the Seattle Mariners for a 7-4 victory on Tuesday night.

"Our pitching staff has done a great job of getting us on this roll here," Tino Martinez said. "Our confidence level obviously is growing."

Wang (1-1), a right-hander, starting because Jaret Wright is on the disabled list, allowed runs in each of the first two innings, but only two hits after that. He became the fifth straight Yankees starter to allow three runs or fewer, giving up three runs and four hits in 7 1-3 innings. The crowd of 39,780 gave him a standing ovation when he was taken out.

"He throws strikes," Yankees catcher John Flaherty said. "He worked fast. He challenges you to put the ball in play."

Tino Martinez homered for the fourth consecutive game, as New York extended a regular-season winning streak to four for the first time since September.

Closer Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his fifth save in seven chances for the Yankees.

Seattle's Aaron Sele (2-4) didn't make it out of the third inning, and the Mariners lost for the ninth time in 10 games.

The 25-year-old Wang made his Major League debut for the New York Yankees on April 30 when he stood in for Jaret Wright, who will miss four to six weeks with a shoulder injury. Before that, Wang played on the Yankee's triple A team, Triple A Columbus.

Playing for the Yankees, the 190cm-tall right-hander from Tainan became only the second Taiwan-born pitcher -- after Tsao Chin-hui (曹錦輝) with the Colorado Rockies -- to start in the US major league.

According to the Major League Baseball site, MBL.com, Wang was signed by John Cox and Gordon Blakeley. He used to play baseball at Taipei College of Physical Education in Taiwan and was a member of the Taiwan Junior National Team in 1997 and 1998. He later helped lead Taiwan to an Olympic berth in the 2003 Asian Championships before becoming a member of the 2004 Team Taiwan in Athens. In 2002, he was elected Most Valuable Player for Taiwan at the 2002 Asian Games.

According to reports in local Chinese-language newspapers, Wang is a man of few words, and reporters have problems getting more than a brief response in reply to their questions.

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