Wang Chien-ming (
Wang (12-4) dominated on the mound, taking a no-hitter into the fifth inning on the way to a first career shutout, and he was ably assisted by Bernie Williams and Derek Jeter, who homered and batted in a pair of runs respectively.
The Taiwanese righthander had one strikeout and walked a pair, while allowing just one batter past first base.
It was the fourth straight win for the Yankees and it moved them to within half a game of the Boston Red Sox at the top of the American League East division.
"He's the type of pitcher that can tell you what's coming and they still have trouble digging it out of the ground," Yankees manager Joe Torre told MLB.com. "This kid, you put him right up with Moose [Mike Mussina] and Randy [Johnson] as far as the quality starts you expect from him. This is a game where I don't care who we we're playing, the way this kid was pitching tonight it would have been tough for anybody to beat him."
While the Yankees have often struggled against the lowly Devil Rays, Wang has had no such problems.
In his last meeting on July 8 in Florida, Wang held Tampa Bay to one run in 8 1/3 innings.
Ty Wigginton broke up Wang's no-hit bid with a single to center to lead off the fifth, but the Yankees were already in complete control of the contest by that stage.
Alex Rodriguez singled in Johnny Damon in the first to nudge the Yankees in front and that was all the support Wang would need.
In the second, Jeter slammed a two-run single to provide Wang with a 3-0 cushion before New York scored two more in the fourth with a pair of bases-loaded walks.
The Yankees cause was helped by a shaky effort from Tampa Bay starter Tim Corcoran (4-2), who issued six free passes in 3 1/3 innings of work while allowing five runs -- three earned -- on seven hits.
White Sox 6, Orioles 4
At Baltimore, Ross Gload hit a grand slam in the ninth inning off Chris Ray, ruining Erik Bedard's bid to win his eighth consecutive start.
Gload entered in the sixth inning as a replacement for Paul Konerko, who bruised his left shin when he fouled a pitch off of it in the fifth. The seldom-used Gload came in with six RBIs in 43 games.
But he became a surprise star in the ninth, which started with Baltimore up 4-2.
The White Sox used two singles and an intentional walk to load the bases with one out against Ray (1-3), who had 26 saves in 27 chances. With the count full, Gload lifted a flyball into the seats in left.
Angels 8, Red Sox 3
At Boston, Kelvim Escobar pitched six solid innings to win for only the second time in 12 starts, and Garret Anderson went 3-for-4 with two hits in the Angels' six-run seventh.
In his second start since going on the disabled list with right elbow inflammation, Escobar (7-9) allowed two runs on six hits and two walks, striking out eight in six innings. Howie Kendrick was 3-for-5 with three RBIs to help the Angels, who sent 11 batters to the plate in the seventh, improve to 18-5 in July.
Jon Lester (5-1) took his first career loss, giving up five runs and 10 hits while striking out two in 6 1-3 innings. The rookie left-hander brought a 2-1 lead into the seventh, but gave up singles to Anderson and Tim Salmon to start the inning.
Indians 1, Mariners 0
At Cleveland, Jeremy Sowers pitched his second consecutive shutout and Shin-Soo Choo hit his first career homer in his Cleveland debut.
Choo, acquired Wednesday from Seattle for first baseman Ben Broussard, hit a 3-0 pitch from Felix Hernandez (9-9) over the wall in left-center with two outs in the sixth to put Cleveland up 1-0.
Meanwhile, Sowers (3-3) allowed only five singles as Cleveland won for just the sixth time in its last 19 games. Seattle lost ground in the tight AL West race with its second loss in six games.
Tigers 3, Twins 2
At Minneapolis, Craig Monroe's sharp single down the third-base line in the 10th inning lifted Detroit past streaking Minnesota.
The Twins lost for only the ninth time in their last 43 games and fell 9.5 games behind the Tigers in the AL Central. They're now 1.5 games back of the Yankees and one game behind the White Sox in the wild-card race.
Chris Shelton singled off Juan Rincon (3-1) and took second on a sacrifice bunt by Vance Wilson. After Curtis Granderson struck out, Placido Polanco reached on a high-bouncing single to shortstop. Then came the hit by Monroe.
Todd Jones pitched the 10th for his 28th save, preserving a victory for Fernando Rodney (5-3).
Royals 11, Rangers 3
At Arlington, Texas, newly acquired All-Star slugger Carlos Lee went 2-for-4 in his Texas debut, not nearly enough to keep the Rangers from extending their losing streak to five games.
Lee was traded to the Rangers from the Milwaukee Brewers in a six-player deal Friday, and arrived at the stadium only about 35 minutes before the game. He hit fourth as the designated hitter, and had singles up the middle in his first two at-bats.
Pedro Martinez surrendered four runs in the first inning but didn't give up any more in his return from the disabled list, and the New York Mets stretched their already commanding lead in the NL East with a 6-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Friday night.
Jose Reyes and David Wright homered for the Mets, who increased their advantage over the Braves to 13 games on a blistering night that drew a record crowd of 53,943 to Turner Field. That broke the Atlanta regular-season mark of 53,775 on April 8, 1974, when Hank Aaron hit his 715th homer to eclipse Babe Ruth.
Marlins 4, Phillies 1
At Philadelphia, rookie Ricky Nolasco didn't allow a hit through 6 2-3 innings and combined with two relievers for a three-hitter.
Nolasco (9-6) allowed only an infield single off his glove to light-hitting Abraham Nunez and walked five in 7 1-3 innings. The right-hander struck out three and hit one batter. Chase Utley singled off reliever Tyler Tankersley in the eighth inning to extend his hitting streak to 28 games, the longest in the major leagues this season.
Cubs 6, Cardinals 5
At Chicago, Juan Pierre's bases-loaded triple highlighted a six-run fourth inning and Chicago capitalized on a key error by St. Louis third baseman Scott Rolen.
The game was tied at 3 with two outs in the fourth when Chicago starter Carlos Marmol hit a grounder to Rolen. The six-time Gold Glover threw high to first, pulling Albert Pujols off the bag and loading the bases for Pierre.
St. Louis pitcher Jason Marquis (12-8) came into the game leading the National League in wins, but couldn't make it out off the fourth. He Marquis gave up eight hits, walking one and striking out one in 3 2-3 innings, his shortest outing of the season.
Pirates 3, Giants 0
At Pittsburgh, Kip Wells won for the first time in 10 months, pitching his best game of the season.
Wells tossed seven-plus shutout innings, allowing five hits while walking three and striking out three.
Barry Bonds went 0-for-4 for the Giants, who have lost a season-high five in a row.
Reds 4, Brewers 3
At Milwaukee, Ryan Freel doubled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and Eric Milton bounced back from a shaky first with six scoreless innings.
The loss dropped the Brewers, who have watched their playoff hopes fade while losing nine of 13, a season-high seven games below 500. Earlier in the day, Milwaukee dealt All-Star outfielder Carlos Lee to the Texas Rangers after failing to sign him to a contract extension.
Rockies 3, Padres 1
At Denver, Byung-Hyun Kim allowed five hits in 7 2-3 innings, baffling the Padres with his stop-and-go delivery, striking out seven in the longest outing of his career.
Kim (6-6) got his first win since June 25.
Brian Fuentes pitched the ninth for his 17th save in 21 chances. Cory Sullivan made a diving catch in center on Mike Piazza's line drive with a man on first for the final out.
Matt Holliday greeted Scott Linebrink with his 18th home run of the season on the first pitch of the eighth.
Arizona 8, Astros 7, 11 innings
At Houston, Luis Gonzalez doubled in the 11th inning off reliever Andy Pettitte (9-11) and scored on Johnny Estrada's sacrifice fly to lift Arizona past Houston and Luke Scott, who hit for the cycle.
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