Mike Mussina outpitched former teammate Orlando Hernandez, and Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run homer that sent the New York Yankees to a 3-2 victory on Monday night over the Chicago White Sox.
Mariano Rivera of Panama got his career-best 30th consecutive save, and the Yankees (60-50) moved 10 games over .500 for the first time this season.
It was New York's first meeting this season against the White Sox (72-39), who have the best record in the major leagues.
PHOTO: AFP
Hernandez (8-5) got a nice ovation before the game from Yankees fans who remember all he accomplished during two stints in pinstripes from 1998 until last year. The Cuban right-hander with the deceptive delivery went 61-40 for New York and 9-3 with a 2.65 ERA in the postseason.
Mussina (11-7) struck out Jermaine Dye on his 122nd pitch with runners at second and third to end the sixth. The right-hander allowed two runs and eight hits, striking out seven and walking none.
Red Sox 11, Rangers 6
In Boston, Tony Graffanino had three hits and showed rare power with a three-run homer that sparked Boston over Texas in a game between baseball's two highest-scoring teams.
David Ortiz hit his 26th homer, but Boston got unusual contributions from the bottom four spots in its lineup, which combined for nine of the team's 12 hits.
Graffanino, batting eighth, had the best of his 14 games at second base since being acquired from Kansas City on July 19 to replace the injured Mark Bellhorn. He went 3-for-3 -- capped by the homer that made it 8-5 in the fifth -- and even was walked intentionally.
Jeremi Gonzalez (2-1) pitched 2 2-3 scoreless innings in relief of Wade Miller as Boston won for the 10th time in 12 games. Steve Karsay (0-1) allowed four runs in two innings in his second appearance for Texas.
Mariners 5, Twins 4
In Seattle, Jesse Crain walked Jeremy Reed with the bases loaded in the eighth inning to push across the tiebreaking run.
The Mariners loaded the bases off Carlos Silva (7-6) and Crain on singles by Ichiro Suzuki and Willie Bloomquist and a two-out intentional walk to Adrian Beltre. Reed's walk, for his second RBI of the game, brought in Suzuki from third.
George Sherrill (1-0) got the victory by getting two outs in the eighth. Eddie Guardado pitched the ninth for his 26th consecutive save and his 27th in 28 opportunities.
Tigers 9, Blue Jays 8, 12 innings
In Toronto, Vance Wilson hit a go-ahead single in the 12th inning and Detroit ended a three-game losing streak. Dmitri Young led off the inning with a single off Scott Schoeneweis (2-3) before advancing to third on Rondell White's double.
Schoeneweis walked Craig Monroe to load the bases and struck out Brandon Inge for the second out.
Wilson followed with a high chopper to third baseman Aaron Hill, who couldn't field the ball, allowing Young to score the go-ahead run on what was ruled a single.
Vic Darensbourg (1-0) pitched 1 1-3 innings for the victory, and Craig Dingman got the last two outs of the 12th for his second save.
Alex Rios homered and had a career-high five hits for the Blue Jays.
Brandon Claussen allowed two hits in seven scoreless innings and Ken Griffey Jr hit a three-run homer on Monday in the Cincinnati Reds' 9-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs, who have lost six straight games.
Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns also homered for the Reds. Javier Valentin drove in three runs, including two with a bases-loaded double off Chicago starter Jerome Williams (3-5) in the second.
Dunn's homer, a two-run shot in the third, was his 33rd and tied him for second in the NL with Chicago's Derrek Lee. It was Dunn's 10th homer in 24 games since the All-Star break.
Griffey's homer, his 24th, capped a four-run rally in the sixth.
Claussen (7-8) allowed only a double to Todd Walker and a single to Matt Murton while striking out three and walking five. He didn't give up a hit after the second.
The Cubs fell to 27-27 at Wrigley Field and are 6.5 games behind Houston in the NL wild-card race. At 54-58, Chicago is in fourth place in the NL Central, four games ahead of fifth-place Cincinnati.
Rockies 5, Marlins 3, 2nd game
In Denver, Danny Ardoin hit a tiebreaking two-run homer, South Korea's Byung-Hyun Kim won for the first time in seven starts, and Colorado swept a doubleheader.
Ardoin broke a 3-all tie in the sixth with his third home run of the year. Ryan Shealy went 3-for-3 and drove in a run in Game 2 and was 5-for-8 with two RBIs in the doubleheader.
Kim (3-8) allowed three runs and five hits in six innings to win for the first time since June 24. Brian Fuentes pitched the ninth for his 20th save in 23 chances.
Alex Gonzalez drove in three runs for the Marlins, who fell three games behind idle Houston in the NL wild-card race.
Ismael Valdez (1-1), who was 3-0 in his previous three starts against Colorado, allowed five runs and 10 hits in six innings.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Sunny Kim and Byung-Hyun Kim became the first players with the same last name to start each end of a doubleheader since brothers Gaylord and Jim Perry did it for Cleveland on June 22, 1974, at Boston.
In the first game, Dustan Mohr homered with two outs in the 11th inning off Valerio De Los Santos (1-1). Scott Dohman (1-1) pitched two scoreless innings to earn his first major league win.
Cardinals 8, Brewers 4
In Milwaukee, Mark Grudzielanek homered and drove in a career-high five runs for St. Louis.
Grudzielanek also scored the go-ahead run on Abraham Nunez's RBI single off Matt Wise (4-4) in the eighth inning that snapped a 4-all tie. Grudzielanek, Nunez and Taguchi combined to go 8-for-13 with all eight RBIs.
Randy Flores (2-1) pitched a perfect seventh for the win after Matt Morris failed to get his 100th career victory because of an error by Albert Pujols that led to two unearned runs in the fifth.
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