NEW YORK – Mike Mussina stopped his four-game losing streak, Hideki Matsui had three hits and a nifty bit of baserunning and the New York Yankees beat Houston 5-3 Tuesday night to end the Astros’ seven-game winning streak.
Jorge Posada hit a two-run homer as the Yankees won the first regular-season game between the teams.
Houston was trying to post its longest winning streak since taking 12 in a row in 1999. Craig Biggio and Morgan Ensberg homered for the Astros.
Mussina (8-4) had struggled since winning his first seven starts of the season. He matched the longest losing skid of his career over a span of five starts.
He blanked Houston on three hits over the first five innings before giving up Biggio’s two-run homer. Mussina escaped a bases-loaded jam later in the sixth when Richard Hidalgo lined into a double play, and left after the seventh.
Antonio Osuna gave up Ensberg’s homer on his first pitch in the eighth. Mariano Rivera worked the ninth for his sixth save in seven chances.
Posada’s homer and a lucky bounce helped the Yankees take a 3-0 lead in the fifth against Wade Miller (4-7).
Alfonso Soriano got an infield hit with one out and Derek Jeter followed with a sharp grounder that skipped up and handcuffed second baseman Jeff Kent. Instead of turning a double play, Kent could only throw out Jeter.
Soriano moved to second on the play and scored when Jason Giambi looped an RBI single. Posada then hit his 15th home run.
With the Yankees ahead 3-2, Matsui doubled to start the sixth and moved up on a groundout. Raul Mondesi hit a grounder to Ensberg at third, and Matsui was trapped off the bag.
But Matsui twisted away from the tag – he stepped on the grass in foul territory to get away – and ran home when Ensberg threw to first. Ensberg seemed shocked to find out third-base umpire Dana DeMuth had called Matsui safe, and Astros manager Jimy Williams came out to argue.
Cubs 4, Orioles 0
BALTIMORE – Sammy Sosa doubled and scored the Chicago Cubs’ first run, and Shawn Estes pitched seven innings of six-hit ball Tuesday night in a 4-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
Hours after appealing his eight-game suspension for using a corked bat on June 3, Sosa went 2-for-5 to raise his batting average to .290. A decision on his punishment could come as soon as Wednesday.
If the Cubs get the kind of pitching Estes gave them, they might not miss their stellar cleanup hitter all that much.
Estes (6-5) struck out five, walked two and allowed only one runner past second base. Aided by two double plays, the left-hander handcuffed a team that averaged 6.9 runs over its last 19 games.
Indians 8, Padres 5
CLEVELAND – Rookie Brandon Phillips hit a two-run single in Cleveland’s six-run first inning Tuesday night as the Indians rallied for an 8-5 win over the San Diego Padres in the first game between the teams.
Cleveland trailed 4-0 before coming up for the first time.
Phillips, who had just one hit in his previous 35 at-bats, capped a wild first frame of interleague play between clubs whose only other meetings came in Cactus League spring training games in Arizona.
Jake Westbrook (3-3) pitched 2 1-3 perfect innings for the win as the Indians improved to 9-2 at home since May 16.
Blue Jays 13, Pirates 8
TORONTO – Carlos Delgado hit his AL-leading 20th home run, and Orlando Hudson and Josh Phelps connected for consecutive homers as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 13-8 on Tuesday night.
Delgado, who leads the majors with 70 RBIs, reached 20 home runs for the eighth time – surpassing Joe Carter’s club record of seven. He became the fastest Toronto player to reach 70 RBIs, doing it in 64 games.
Delgado leads all players with 34 career interleague homers and 99 RBIs. Last week, he said he hated interleague play.
After he tied it at 5 with a long, three-run homer off Kris Benson (5-7) in the second inning, Hudson and Phelps hit back-to-back homers off Benson in the third, giving Toronto a 7-5 lead.
Reds 4, Devil Rays 2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Austin Kearns, Aaron Boone and Jose Guillen hit solo homers Tuesday night as the Cincinnati Reds beat Tampa Bay 4-2 for the Devil Rays’ fifth straight loss.
Guillen, facing his former team for the first time, snapped a 2-2 tie with his 11th homer on the first pitch of the sixth inning. The strong-armed right fielder preserved the one-run lead in the seventh when he threw out a runner trying to score on Travis Lee’s single.
Right-hander Paul Wilson (4-4) allowed two runs and eight hits in 5 2-3 innings to get the win. Scott Williamson pitched the ninth for his 14th save in 15 opportunities, retiring pinch-hitter Al Martin on a routine fly with the bases loaded to end it.
Kearns and Boone homered off Jason Standridge (0-1) in a span of three pitches with two outs in the fourth, wiping out a 2-0 lead Tampa Bay took on Toby Hall’s two-run double. The homers were the first hits off Standridge, a rookie making his second major league start.
Rockies 5, Twins 0
MINNEAPOLIS – Preston Wilson, Charles Johnson and Greg Vaughn each hit first-pitch home runs in support of Jason Jennings on Tuesday night to lead the Colorado Rockies past the Minnesota Twins 5-0.
Vaughn also doubled and went 2-for-4 for the Rockies, who brought the worst road record in the majors to the game and are 8-22 away from Coors Field.
The veteran Vaughn, who signed a minor league contract with Colorado in April after his release by Tampa Bay, hit his first homer as a Rockie – a solo shot off Brad Radke in the sixth.
that gave his new team a five-run lead, one week after his promotion from Triple-A Colorado Springs.
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