With the best record in baseball and a 2 1/2-game lead over Tampa Bay, which lost in Baltimore last night, the Yankees won for the 14th time in 18 games and improved to 6-0 on their 10-game homestand. This even as the Yankees are without Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher, and Andy Pettitte — though the Yankees are 21-3 without Rodriguez this season.

Robinson Cano had a two-run single and New York overcame a shaky return to the rotation for Javier Vazquez — who wasn’t happy about being yanked in the fifth.

Twins 12, Rangers 4 — Jim Thome homered twice for Minnesota, moving past Mark McGwire for ninth place on the all-time list and powering the Twins over visiting Texas.

Thome went deep for the 583d time in his career leading off the third inning, a shot to the second deck above right field estimated at 449 feet. Then with two on and two outs in the fourth, Thome’s full-count drive into the bullpen behind left-center made it 9-0 and gave him No. 584.

Orioles 8, Rays 4 — Nick Markakis homered and scored twice to back an effective pitching performance by Jeremy Guthrie, and host Baltimore beat Tampa Bay for manager Buck Showalter’s 900th career win.

Matt Wieters and Felix Pie each had two hits and two RBIs for the Orioles.

Braves 2, Marlins 0 — Jair Jurrjens pitched seven innings and earned his first victory in 10 road starts this season as Atlanta beat Florida.

With the Braves clinging to first place in the NL East, Jurrjens (7-4) matched a career high by winning his fourth decision in a row.

Phillies 5, Brewers 4 — Placido Polanco hit a tying sacrifice fly and Wilson Valdez hustled home with the go-ahead run on an errant throw on the same play, lifting Roy Halladay and host Philadelphia over Milwaukee.

Reds 6, Cardinals 1 — Rookie lefthander Travis Wood hit his first homer and allowed one unearned run over seven innings to lead visiting Cincinnati over St. Louis, its 15th win in 20 games.

Athletics 3, Angels 1 — Trevor Cahill (15-6) pitched six scoreless innings to beat visiting Los Angeles and become Oakland’s first 15-game winner in three years.

Cubs 5, Mets 3 — Carlos Zambrano passed Kerry Wood on the Cubs’ strikeouts list, moving into third with 1,411, and Starlin Castro became the club’s first rookie in 66 years with six straight multihit games as Chicago beat visiting New York.

Rockies 6, Padres 2 — NL batting leader Carlos Gonzalez had three hits, raising his average to .335, and drove in two runs to lead visiting Colorado over reeling San Diego, whose nine-game losing streak is its longest since 2003.

Giants 5, Dodgers 4 — Juan Uribe hit a go-ahead, two-run homer off Jonathan Broxton in the ninth inning and Brian Wilson escaped a jam in the bottom half to preserve San Francisco’s victory in Los Angeles.

Astros 6, Diamondbacks 5 — Carlos Lee hit a three-run homer in Houston’s four-run eighth inning as the Astros rallied to beat the Diamondbacks in Phoenix.

Indians 4, Mariners 2 — Mitch Talbot allowed an unearned run in 6 2/3 innings to help visiting Cleveland top Seattle.

Tigers 6, Royals 4 — Austin Jackson hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning for his third hit of the game as visiting Detroit beat Kansas City.

Nationals 9, Pirates 2 — John Lannan allowed only one run for the second consecutive start, Ivan Rodriguez had three hits and four RBIs, and visiting Washington broke a three-game losing streak.