Bernie Williams hit two two-run homers to help Randy Johnson win for the first time in a month and lead New York to a 5-1 victory over Kansas City on Friday.
Alex Rodriguez also homered, helping the Yankees beat the Royals for the first time this season. New York lost all three games at Kansas City from May 31-June 2 in Buddy Bell's first series as Royals manager.
"We are making our push," Williams said. "We are obviously trying to catch up for the shaky start we had."
Johnson (12-8) allowed four hits and struck out six in eight innings. He had been 0-2 with a 6.49 ERA in four starts since beating Minnesota 4-0 on July 26.
"That was as good as I've seen him, just in the attack mode," Yankees manager Joe Torre said.
Williams hit his 11th homer in the sixth, two batters after Rodriguez homered. He added another drive in the eighth for his first multihomer game since Sept. 13, 2003, against Tampa Bay.
Mike Wood (4-5), the winning pitcher last Saturday when Kansas City beat Oakland to snap its 19-game losing streak, allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings. The Royals had followed their skid by winning four of five, but Friday's loss dropped them to 0-9 at Yankee Stadium since Aug. 6, 2002.
Indians 9, Blue Jays 3
In Toronto, Grady Sizemore stole home, Travis Hafner homered twice and C.C. Sabathia won his fifth straight start for Cleveland, which won for the eighth time in nine games, while Toronto lost for the seventh time in eight.
Sizemore got off to a huge lead from third in the first inning and broke for home before Dustin McGowan (1-2) started his windup. Catcher Guillermo Quiroz didn't attempt a tag as Sizemore easily slid in safely for Cleveland's first straight steal of home since Omar Vizquel at Detroit on May 27, 2003.
Hafner hit a solo shot off McGowan in the first and a two-run homer off Justin Speier in the ninth, his second two-homer game this season and the seventh multihomer game of his career.
Victor Martinez and Ronnie Belliard also homered for the Indians. Martinez had four hits, including a solo homer, and scored four runs.
Devil Rays 12, Angels 8
At St. Petersburg, Florida, Jorge Cantu, Travis Lee and Jonny Gomes all homered in a nine-run fourth inning as Tampa Bay beat Los Angeles.
Cantu also had a first-inning RBI double and a two-run double in the seventh to finish with a career-high five RBIs.
Casey Fossum (8-10) won his second straight start despite allowing seven runs and nine hits over five innings.
Maicer Izturis homered and drove in three runs for Los Angeles. His homer stopped the Angels' stretch of 57 consecutive innings without one.
Ervin Santana (7-6) gave up seven runs and 10 hits in 3 2-3 innings.
Athletics 4, Orioles 1
At Baltimore, Joe Blanton allowed four hits over six shutout innings and Bobby Crosby hit a two-run homer to lead Oakland past Baltimore.
Eric Chavez drove in a run and scored one for the Athletics, who have won three straight after losing seven of eight. Oakland is 15-3 in its last 18 road games.
Blanton (8-9) struck out six and walked three in winning his third straight decision. The rookie is 3-0 with an 0.95 ERA in five starts in August.
Blanton outpitched Bruce Chen (10-8), who allowed one earned run before yielding Crosby's homer in the eighth that gave the A's a 4-1 lead.
Rangers 6, Twins 0
At Arlington, Texas, David Dellucci and Alfonso Soriano homered in a four-run third inning, and rookie Kameron Loe pitched five shutout innings in his second major league start for Texas.
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