Red Sox bury reeling Braves

NEW YORK (Reuters) - David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis both homered and Josh Beckett pitched six strong innings and had an RBI single as the Boston Red Sox beat the reeling Atlanta Braves 5-3 in interleague play Saturday in Atlanta.

Ortiz also had an RBI double for the Red Sox, who improved to 38-28 with the win and climbed back into a tie for first place in the American League East with the New York Yankees.

New York lost its interleague game at Washington 11-9 on a rare blown save by Mariano Rivera, squandering a seven-run lead, to drop back into the first place tie with Boston.

Beckett added his RBI single in the fourth and Ortiz's fifth inning home run gave Boston a 5-1 lead and that was enough offense to give Beckett the victory.

Beckett (8-3) allowed two runs on three hits with five strikeouts and four walks and was backed by a 12-hit attack, including three hits by Alex Gonzalez and two each by Ortiz and Mark Loretta.

"I'm lucky to be on a team that doesn't force you to throw a shutout every time," Beckett, who joined the Red Sox in the off-season from the Florida Marlins, told reporters.

"You don't have to with our lineup."

SLUMPING BRAVES

The struggles continued for the slumping Braves, who lost their season-high sixth straight game to fall further back in the National League East, slipping nine games under .500

(30-39).

Atlanta has won a record 14 straight division titles, but manager Bobby Cox's team is now battling just to stay out of the basement of the division, with Washington, Florida and Atlanta tightly bunched at the bottom, way behind the leading New York Mets.

"We're just battling too hard, trying to do too much," Atlanta veteran Andruw Jones told reporters.

Youkilis led off the game with his home run and Ortiz's RBI double in the second and a run-scoring single by Trot Nixon put the Red Sox up 3-0 early.

Four relievers completed the five-hitter, including Jonathan Papelbon, who pitched a perfect ninth for his 22nd save of the season.

Lance Cormier (2-2) took the loss for the Braves, allowing four runs on seven hits over four innings, striking out one and walking three.

Jones had two hits, including a run-scoring single in the fourth for the Braves' first run, and also scored a run for Atlanta.

YANKEES STUNNED

In Washington, Jose Guillen drove in the go-ahead run with an eighth inning triple to key a three-run rally as the Nationals stunned the Yankees 11-9.

The Yankees scored seven runs in the fifth inning to take a 9-2 lead, but the Nationals fought back with four runs in their fifth, two in the seventh and three more in the eighth.

Daryle Ward homered for the Nationals, scored three runs and drove in a pair with his two hits. Ryan Zimmerman and Brian Schneider both added two hits and two RBI to Washington's 13-hit attack.

Reliever Jon Rauch (2-1), the fourth of five Washington pitchers, allowed one hit in a scoreless inning for the win and Chad Cordero did the same in the ninth to claim his 13th save.

Rivera (4-4) was the loser, blowing a save opportunity for just the second time this season. He allowed two runs on two hits in just 2/3 innings.

Johnny Damon hit a grand slam for New York and had four hits and five RBI. Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano both added three hits to the Yankees attack and Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada also homered.

In Chicago, Carlos Guillen homered, had three hits and drove in three runs as the Detroit Tigers won for the eighth time in 10 games, downing the Cubs 9-3.

(Writing by Roger Lajoie in Toronto)