Monday’s games
American League
Yankees 3, White Sox 2: At New York, Mike Mussina (11-7) outpitched former teammate Orlando Hernandez (8-5), and Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run home run that sent the Yankees to a victory over Chicago. Mariano Rivera got his career-best 30th consecutive save, and the Yankees moved 10 games over .500 for the first time this season. They improved to 2-32 when scoring three runs or fewer and won for the fourth time in five games overall. It was New York’s first meeting this season against the Central-leading White Sox, who have the best record in the major leagues.
Red Sox 11, Rangers 6: At Boston, Tony Graffanino had three hits and showed rare power with a three-run homen run that sparked the Red Sox to a victory 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.
Tigers 9, Blue Jays 8 (12): At Toronto, Vance Wilson hit a go-ahead single in the 12th inning and Detroit ended a three-game losing streak with a victory over the Blue Jays. 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. Alex Rios homered and had a career-high five hits for the Blue Jays.
National League
Rockies 4-5, Marlins 3-3: At Denver, Danny Ardoin hit a tiebreaking two-run home run, Byung-Hyun Kim (3-8) won for the first time in seven starts, and Colorado completed a doubleheader sweep of Florida Marlins with a 5-3 victory. 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 to give the Rockies a 4-3 victory.
Reds 9, Cubs 4: At Chicago, Brandon Claussen allowed two hits in seven scoreless innings and Ken Griffey Jr. hit a three-run home run as Cincinnati handed the Cubs their sixth straight loss. 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.
Cardinals 8, Brewers 4: At Milwaukee, Mark Grudzielanek homered and drove in a career-high five runs, leading St. Louis over the Brewers. Grudzielanek also scored the go-ahead run on Abraham Nunez’s RBI single off Matt Wise in the eighth inning that snapped a 4-all tie.