NEW YORK (AP) – Mike Mussina gave the New York Yankees just what they needed, allowing three hits in eight sharp innings to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0 Tuesday night for the best start in franchise history.

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.

Mussina (3-0) struck out nine.

Mussina 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.

He retired 18 of the next 19 batters – allowing only a single by Catalanotto with one out in the fourth – before Eric Hinske and Greg Myers singled with one out in the eighth.

Mussina got the runs he needed in the first against Roy Halladay (0-2). Alfonso Soriano singled and Jason Giambi walked with one out. Williams then hit an RBI single to make it 1-0.

Cubbage, Cloninger return to Red Sox

BOSTON (AP) – Boston Red Sox coaches Mike Cubbage and Tony Cloninger were back with the team for Tuesday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Cubbage returned to the third base coach’s box where he collapsed in a diabetic seizure three days before. Cloninger, the pitching coach who has bladder cancer, was back for the first time since opening day.

Cloninger was not in uniform, instead watching the game in the clubhouse. He hopes to be ready to resume his full duties in two or three days.

“I’m ready to go,” he told a pool reporter. “I want to help people do their job.”

Cubbage had a seizure during Saturday night’s home opener and spent the night in the hospital. He missed Sunday’s game, when bench coach Jerry Narron replaced him on the baseline.

Cubbage, who wears a pump on his belt to regulate his blood sugar, said he exacerbated the problem when he gave himself an insulin shot that he mistakenly thought he needed.

“I overtreated it,” he said Tuesday. “When you’re diabetic, you have to be your own doctor 365 days a year, and I didn’t do a very good job on Saturday. I mismanaged my medicine and my food intake and that was the result.”