New York ? When Mike Mussina left the ballpark the night before his start, he knew the New York Yankees would be counting on him to go deep into the game.

Mussina more than delivered, allowing three hits in eight sharp innings to beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-0, Tuesday night for the best start in Yankees history.

Mussina (3-0) restored pitching to the series after an opener that featured 20 walks and 24 hits in New York’s 10-9 win that took 4 hours, 8 minutes to play.

“I’ve been doing this long enough to know when those guys need a break,” Mussina said. “I know I needed to provide for them and I’m glad I was able to do it.”

Mussina allowed manager Joe Torre to rest most of his bullpen after using five relievers for 42¼3 innings Monday.

“He had to sit through that thing last night, too,” Torre said. “He understands what a well-pitched ballgame can do for a team.”

Jorge Posada homered and Bernie Williams had three hits and two RBIs for the Yankees, who have won 11 of 13 to open the season for the first time. Toronto has lost six straight.

Mussina struck out nine to beat the Blue Jays for the seventh straight time since joining the Yankees. New York also turned three double plays in its second shutout of the season.

“That’s a nice, clean way to play baseball,” Mussina said. “It was a fun game to watch and a fun game to play after the one last night.”

New York is 5-0 against the Blue Jays this season, scoring 37 runs to outslug them in the first four wins. This time, the Yankees relied on Mussina’s pitching.

New York's Mike Mussina delivers against Toronto. Mussina allowed three hits in eight innings, and the Yankees blanked the Blue Jays, 5-0, Tuesday night in New York.

Coming off a 120-pitch effort in a 2-1 win last Wednesday against Minnesota, Mussina looked as if he might not last long at the start.

He threw 17 pitches to the first two batters, walking No. 2 hitter Frank Catalanotto on nine pitches. Then, with a 2-1 count on Vernon Wells, Mussina induced an easy double-play grounder to get out of the inning.

“Sometimes it takes a pitcher an inning or two to get into a comfort zone,” Torre said. “The big thing with Moose is he has so many pitches that when he gets in front of hitters he has so many weapons.”

He retired 18 of the next 19 batters — allowing only a clean line-drive single to right by Catalanotto with one out in the fourth — before Eric Hinske and Greg Myers singled with one out in the eighth.

After walking Orlando Hudson to load the bases, Mussina got Mike Bordick to hit into an inning-ending double play to preserve the shutout.

“He was outstanding,” Posada said. “Every pitch he threw for strikes. There wasn’t one pitch he didn’t have a feel for.”

Mussina was extremely efficient after the first, not needing more than 15 pitches in any of the next six innings and finishing with 115. He struck out Josh Phelps three times and Carlos Delgado twice.

“He had very good stuff,” Blue Jays manager Carlos Tosca said. “He pitched to all four quadrants. I thought he had a great sequence of pitches most of the time. He threw the ball where he wanted.”

Jason Anderson pitched the ninth to finish it for New York.

The Yankees gave Mussina all the runs he needed in the first against Roy Halladay (0-2). Alfonso Soriano led off with a single and Jason Giambi walked with one out. Williams then hit an RBI single to right to make it 1-0.

Posada added a solo homer in the fourth, his fifth. It was New York’s 24th homer in 13 games, including 11 in five games against Toronto.

Williams scored on Robin Ventura’s single in the sixth.

Red Sox 6, Devil Rays 5

Boston — Shea Hillenbrand broke a ninth-inning tie with his fourth hit of the game as Boston withstood another collapse by its bullpen and beat Tampa Bay.

Boston took a 5-1 lead before Ramiro Mendoza gave it all back in the eighth without retiring a batter. But in the ninth, Boston loaded the bases with one out and Hillenbrand bounced a single up the middle to win it.

Mike Timlin (2-0) inherited a 5-3 lead and two baserunners from Mendoza and gave up the tying, two-run single to pinch-hitter Marlon Anderson. But Timlin retired five consecutive batters after that to prevent further damage and earn the win.

Casey Fossum pitched seven strong innings for the Red Sox, allowing six hits and a run.

Mariners 5, Athletics 3

Seattle — John Olerud’s RBI double in the eighth inning gave Seattle the lead in its fourth consecutive victory. The Mariners took over first place in the AL West by a game. After a 7-1 start, the A’s lost their sixth game in a row, their longest losing streak since they dropped seven straight from April 8-15, 2001. Eric Chavez and Mark Ellis homered for Oakland.

Edgar Martinez, in his third game back after missing a week because of a strained left hamstring, was 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Arthur Rhodes (1-0) pitched 11¼3 innings for the victory and Kazuhiro Sasaki worked a perfect ninth — striking out two — for his third save in four opportunities.

Indians 8, Orioles 3

Cleveland — Matt Lawton hit a three-run homer to help rookie Jason Davis and Cleveland defeat Baltimore. Orioles starter Omar Daal later was ejected for hitting Lawton in the back with a pitch. Lawton simply picked up the ball and good-naturedly flipped it back to the left-hander. By then, the Indians had overcome a 2-0 deficit to lead 6-3.

Davis (1-2) allowed three runs and eight hits over seven innings in his second career win. The 6-foot-6 right-hander had a 1.42 ERA in spring training, but was hit hard and had a 12.86 ERA in his first two starts.

Davis struck out only one, but threw 65 of 87 pitches for strikes.

Rangers 5, Angels 4

Arlington, Texas — Ryan Christenson had a two-run double hours after being called up from the minors, and Einar Diaz added a two-run single in a five-run fourth inning as Texas beat Anaheim. Rookie Colby Lewis (2-0) fell behind 2-0 after three innings, then took advantage of the Rangers’ big fourth, allowing three runs and seven hits over six innings.

Lewis, who walked eight over 32¼3 innings against Oakland in his previous start, walked four and struck out two.

The Rangers’ bullpen took over in the seventh, and reliever Aaron Fultz yielded a leadoff homer to Darin Erstad to make it 5-4. But Fultz and Ugueth Urbina, who got the final four outs for his fifth save in as many chances — combined to allow one hit over the final 22¼3 shutout innings.

Twins 6, Tigers 4

Minneapolis — Torii Hunter broke his slump by going 2-for-4 with a homer, helping Minnesota defeat Detroit — the Twins’ 12th straight victory against the Tigers. Cristian Guzman went 2-for-3 with two walks and an RBI triple for the Twins, who won their fourth in a row since six consecutive losses. Carlos Pena gave the scoring-starved Tigers a lift and a brief lead with a two-run homer in the fourth, but they fell to 1-11 and dropped the first of a 12-game road trip.

Eddie Guardado worked the ninth inning for his fifth save.