Yankees get upper hand

Johnny Damon showed off his power with a pair of upper-deck homers and Mike Mussina pitched seven strong innings to win his fifth straight decision, leading host New York past Tampa Bay yesterday, 4-2.

Damon hit his 12th homer of the season, off James Shields (4-5), in the fifth to give New York a 3-2 lead before connecting again in the seventh. It was Damon's 10th career multihomer game and second this season.

Mussina (13-3) allowed just five hits. He struck out eight, walked two, and has not lost since June 15. The win was the 237th of Mussina's career, passing Whitey Ford and tying Clark Griffith and Waite Hoyt for 55th place on the career list.

Mariano Rivera worked the ninth for his 26th save as the Yankees bounced back after Tampa Bay's 19-6 win Saturday.

Athletics 6, Blue Jays 5 -- Milton Bradley hit a three-run shot for his first career walkoff home run after Toronto had rallied in the top of the ninth, lifting Oakland.

Bradley sent a 2-and-1 pitch from closer B.J. Ryan (1-1) over the center-field wall to give him four RBIs.

Huston Street (4-3) picked up the win despite blowing his seventh save. Lyle Overbay hit a go-ahead two-run double in the top half of the inning and Aaron Hill also doubled home a run, but Ryan couldn't hold the lead.

Twins 6, Tigers 4 -- Jeremy Bonderman's eighth-inning balk let the tying run score in a bizarre, small-ball rally by Minnesota, which rebounded to beat visiting Detroit.

Until the eighth, Bonderman (11-5) was breezing against Twins ace Johan Santana, who lasted only 5 1/3 innings in one of his shakiest outings of the season. Minnesota turned a bunch of choppers and two errors into a six-run eighth.

Luis Castillo drove in Jason Tyner with a ground out for the go-ahead run after Bonderman's balk had brought in Mike Redmond with the tying run. Michael Cuddyer's two-run triple knocked Bonderman out of the game.

Diamondbacks 7, Astros 6 -- Conor Jackson hit a go-ahead homer off Brad Lidge in the ninth and visiting Arizona rallied after Roger Clemens left the game.

Clemens had a season-high nine strikeouts in seven sharp innings and left with a 5-1 lead.

Orioles 8, White Sox 7 -- Javy Lopez's bases-loaded single in the ninth off Bobby Jenks capped a two-run comeback that carried host Baltimore past Chicago.

Phillies sweep, 11-5, 9-2 -- Chase Utley homered and extended his hitting streak to 31 games -- best in the majors this season -- and Ryan Howard hit his NL-leading 35th homer to complete the sweep of the visiting Florida Marlins.

Rockies 3, Padres 1 -- Matt Holliday homered and Jason Jennings pitched seven solid innings for his first win in a month, leading host Colorado past San Diego.

Mariners 7, Indians 3 -- Jose Lopez and Raul Ibanez had two-run singles with two outs in the ninth to lead visiting Seattle past Cleveland, handing the Indians their 11th loss in 15 games.

Brewers 4, Reds 3 -- Ben Sheets allowed two runs in eight innings plus and newcomer Kevin Mench drove in four runs to lead host Milwaukee past Cincinnati.

Cubs 6, Cardinals 3 -- Carlos Zambrano (12-3) outpitched Chris Carpenter to win his ninth straight decision as host Chicago completed a four-game sweep.

Rangers 15, Royals 2 -- Michael Young had four hits and a home run, and Mark DeRosa added four hits and four RBIs as host Texas beat Kansas City to snap a six-game losing streak.

Pirates 2, Giants 1 -- Jose Hernandez's single in the 10th scored Jack Wilson as host Pittsburgh completed a sweep of San Francisco, handing the Giants their seventh straight loss.

Dodgers 4, Nationals 3 -- Cesar Izturis doubled home the go-ahead run in the eighth to finish a three-game sweep of visiting Washington.