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Rodriguez heads Yankees comeback

New York Mets third baseman David Wright watches the flight of the ball while batting in the third inning against the Florida Marlins during their game at Dolphin Stadium in Miami on Thursday. PHOTO: AP

American League

Alex Rodriguez hit a three-run homer that capped a comeback from a four-run deficit with two outs in the ninth inning, giving the New York Yankees an 8-6 victory over the Cleveland Indians in the American League on Thursday.

By homering for the third straight game in New York's sweep, Rodriguez increased his major league-leading totals to 10 homers and 26 RBIs.

Joe Borowski (0-1) had two outs and none on and three times came within a strike of sealing a win. But he allowed Josh Phelps' homer, Jorge Posada's single, Johnny Damon's walk and RBI singles by Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu before Rodriguez connected.

Rodriguez matched Albert Pujols (14 games last year) and Luis Gonzalez (2001) for the second-fastest to 10 homers behind Mike Schmidt (12 games in 1976), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 3

At Toronto, Manny Ramirez hit a tying, two-run homer in the eighth off Shaun Marcum (1-1), Alex Cora had a go-ahead triple in the ninth against Jason Frasor and Coco Crisp followed with a sacrifice fly in Boston's win.

Toronto threatened in the bottom half when Vernon Wells doubled off Mike Timlin (1-0) leading off and advanced on Frank Thomas' groundout. Lyle Overbay was walked intentionally to bring up Aaron Hill, who grounded into a double play.

Jonathan Papelbon got three outs for his fourth save.

Twins 6, Mariners 5

At Seattle, Johan Santana (3-1) gave up two early runs and allowed four hits in seven innings with seven strikeouts as Minnesota completed its first three-game sweep at Seattle since August 1996.

After Raul Ibanez hit a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth off Pat Neshek, Richie Sexson reached on a double to right that Michael Cuddyer lost in the late-afternoon sun and Joe Nathan struck out Jose Guillen for his fifth save.

Jarrod Washburn (0-2) allowed four runs and eight hits in 6 2-3 innings. Minnesota overcame a 2-1 deficit in a five-run seventh that included Cuddyer's two-run double and Mike Redmond's two-run single.

White Sox 6, Rangers 4

At Chicago, Joe Crede hit an RBI single off Scott Feldman (1-1) to break a 3-3 tie in the eighth, and Rob Mackowiak followed with a two-run homer. A.J. Pierzynski hit a three-run homer in the fourth for Chicago.

A night after Mark Buehrle pitched a no-hitter, Javier Vazquez and four relievers combined on a five-hitter, with Matt Thornton (1-1) pitching a scoreless eighth and Bobby Jenks finishing for his fourth save.

National League

Mark Hendrickson got his first win as a starter since August, allowing one run in 5 2-3 innings in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 8-1 win over the Colorado Rockies in the National League on Thursday.

He filled in for Jason Schmidt, who was on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation.

Hendrickson (1-0), who had pitched 11 innings in three relief appearances, scattered five hits, struck out two and walked one.

Tsao Chin-hui, Joe Beimel and Jonathan Broxton finished with hitless relief for the Dodgers. Jeff Kent had three hits, two RBIs and two runs.

Aaron Cook (0-1) extended his winless streak to nine starts since Aug. 27, giving up five runs -- three earned -- six hits and four walks in six innings.

Brewers 7, Pirates 5

At Milwaukee, J.J. Hardy snapped out of an early slump, going 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and four RBIs to help Milwaukee complete a two-game sweep of Pittsburgh.

Milwaukee scored four runs in the first off Zach Duke (1-2), who gave up seven runs and 11 hits in four innings.

Xavier Nady hit a two-run homer off Jeff Suppan (2-2) in the sixth, then singled in a run off Derrick Turnbow in the eighth. Francisco Cordero struck out the side in the ninth for his fifth save.

Phillies 4, Nationals 2

At Washington, Jamie Moyer took a two-hit shutout into the ninth inning, and Aaron Rowand hit his first homer of the year for slumping Philadelphia.

Moyer (2-1) allowed a single in the second, another in the third, and nothing more until Ryan Zimmerman's double leading off the ninth. Dmitri Young followed with an RBI double, and that was it for Moyer.

Tom Gordon came on and made things interesting, loading the bases with no outs and allowing a run to score before getting his third save.

Philadelphia won despite playing without reigning NL MVP Ryan Howard, who hurt his left leg during Wednesday's loss to Washington.

John Patterson (0-3) allowed three runs, seven hits and four walks over four-plus innings.

Giants 6, Cardinals 2

At San Francisco, Rich Aurilia hit a two-run double in the sixth inning to break a tie, helping Noah Lowry to his first win of the season for San Francisco.

Aurilia singled in the winning run in the bottom of the 12th in a 6-5 win on Wednesday, then doubled to right to spoil what had been a fine outing by St. Louis starter Kip Wells (1-3), who also homered, singled and scored two runs.

The Cardinals 6-9 start is the worst by a World Series champion since the 1998 Florida Marlins opened 1-11.

Mets 11, Marlins 3

At Miami, Orlando Hernandez struck out 10 in seven innings, and Carlos Beltran went 4-for-6 with a home run to help New York move into first place in the NL East.

David Wright's hitting streak reached 26 games, extending his franchise record, when he singled in the fifth inning.

Wright has hit in the first 14 games this year.

Hernandez (2-1) reached double figures in strikeouts for the first time since he had 10 for the New York Yankees against Toronto in July 2004.

Ambiorix Burgos and closer Billy Wagner -- working for the first time in six days -- completed a four-hitter that included 15 strikeouts.

In other NL action it was
Astros 8, Reds 6;
Cubs 3, Braves 0;
Padres 11, Diamondbacks 6
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