ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Hank Steinbrenner criticized the Yankees, and Joe Girardi held a pregame team meeting with his struggling team. New York responded with a win.
Robinson Cano went 4-for-4 and drove in a run to back the pitching of Mike Mussina, helping the Yankees end the Tampa Bay Rays' six-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory on Wednesday night.
Mussina (6-3) allowed one run and five hits over 6 1/3 innings to win his fifth consecutive decision.
Cano, who tied a career high with four hits, had a RBI single in the fourth. Bobby Abreu drove in New York's other run off James Shields (4-3) with a two-out double in the fifth, and shortstop Derek Jeter started a nifty double play to end a Tampa Bay threat.
Joba Chamberlain struck out the side in the eighth — and didn't pump his fist. Mariano Rivera bounced back from allowing the winning run in an 11-inning loss the previous night with a perfect ninth for his 11th save in 11 opportunities.
American League
ORIOLES 6, RED SOX 3: At Baltimore, Jay Payton hit his fourth career grand slam to back a gritty pitching effort by Daniel Cabrera, and the Baltimore Orioles rallied to beat the Red Sox.
Solo homers by Jason Varitek and Mike Lowell, and a defensive gem by Manny Ramirez — yes, Manny Ramirez — weren't enough to prevent the Red Sox from losing their fourth straight. It was the third consecutive game in which Boston blew a three-run lead.
The Orioles trailed 3-2 before going ahead in the seventh. With two outs, Freddie Bynum was credited with an infield hit when second baseman Dustin Pedroia couldn't make a play on a grounder.
After Craig Hansen (0-2) gave up a single to Guillermo Quiroz and walked Brian Roberts to load the bases, Payton hit the second pitch from Hideki Okajima into the left-field seats.
That provided Cabrera (4-1) with a rare win over the Red Sox.
MARINERS 4, RANGERS 3 (12): At Arlington, Texas, Miguel Cairo had a two-out RBI single in the 12th inning, and the Mariners beat Texas to avoid a sweep and keep the Rangers from reaching .500.
Wladimir Balentien led off the 12th with a single off Franklyn German (1-2), and Yuniesky Betancourt sacrificed. Balentien moved to third on a deep flyout by Ichiro Suzuki, who went 0-for-6 and ended a 13-game hitting streak. Cairo then singled up the middle.
J.J. Putz (1-1) worked two scoreless innings before Jarrod Washburn, the eighth pitcher used, came on in the 12th for his first career save.
INDIANS 2, ATHLETICS 0: At Cleveland, C.C. Sabathia pitched a five-hitter and struck out 11 in the Cleveland Indians' major league-leading seventh shutout.
Sabathia (3-5) extended the scoreless streak of Indians starters to 43 1-3 innings since Friday. He tied his season high for strikeouts, walked two and won consecutive starts for the first time this season. He has a 1.49 ERA over his past five starts.
Sabathia pitched his sixth shutout, his first since a five-hitter last June 5. Cleveland has five shutouts in its past eight games — one-third of the Indians' victories this season have come in shutouts.
BLUE JAYS 6, TWINS 5: At Minneapolis, Matt Stairs hit a grand slam and Roy Halladay rebounded from a shaky start to help the Blue Jays beat the Twins.
Halladay (4-5) has been the victim of poor run support all season, getting only 3.14 runs per outing entering Wednesday. Stairs' slam in the first inning gave the right-hander a 4-0 advantage.
WHITE SOX 6, ANGELS 1: At Anaheim, Calif., Carlos Quentin broke an eighth-inning tie with his first career grand slam, leading Chicago over Los Angeles in John Lackey's long-awaited return to the Angels' rotation.
Sidelined since March 21 because of a strained triceps, Lackey allowed one run and six hits in seven innings.
ROYALS 2, TIGERS 0: At Kansas City, Mo., Luke Hochevar pitched six strong innings and Joey Gathright drove in the only runs, helping the Royals beat the Tigers and hand Justin Verlander his AL-leading seventh loss.
Hochevar (3-2), the first overall pick in the 2006 draft, limited the Tigers to four singles while striking out five and walking three. He lowered his earned run average to 3.94 in five starts since being called up from Triple-A Omaha on April 20.
National League
NATIONALS 5, METS 3: At New York, Ryan Zimmerman homered and Tim Redding pitched two-hit ball for six innings, sending the Washington to a victory over the Mets.
Jesus Flores hit a tiebreaking single with two outs in the seventh off Aaron Heilman, who was booed on and off the mound by the Shea Stadium crowd. Washington added three more runs in the inning, sticking Claudio Vargas with a tough-luck loss in his Mets debut.
BRAVES 8, PHILLIES 6: At Philadelphia, Tom Glavine pitched 5 2/3 effective innings to earn his first win for Atlanta since beating the Phillies on Sept. 19, 2002.
Chipper Jones, Yunel Escobar and Kelly Johnson each hit solo homers and Brian McCann drove in three runs to support Glavine (1-1), who spent the previous five seasons with the New York Mets after pitching his first 16 years in Atlanta.
REDS 7, MARLINS 6 (10): At Cincinnati, the Reds blew a six-run lead in the ninth inning, but Paul Janish singled home the tiebreaking run in only his second big-league at-bat in the 10th.
Renyel Pinto (1-2) walked two with two outs before Janish, who arrived from the minors earlier in the day, singled to right field to end it, raising his right fist in triumph. Jared Burton (2-1) pitched a perfect 10th for the win.
DODGERS 6, BREWERS 4: At Milwaukee, Juan Pierre hit a go-ahead, two-run double in the ninth inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers overcame a three-run deficit to stop a season-high, six-game losing streak.
Los Angeles had been 0-18 when trailing after eight innings. Milwaukee and its beleagured bullpen have lost 10 games in which it led at some point.
Milwaukee was ahead 4-3 in the ninth when Guillermo Mota (1-2) entered. He walked Delwyn Young and allowed a single to Andre Ethier that put runners on the corners. Pierre drove a pitch deep to left-center to make it 5-4, stole third and scored on Andruw Jones' groundout.
CARDINALS 5, PIRATES 1: At St. Louis, Todd Wellemeyer allowed two hits into the eighth inning for St. Louis, and Albert Pujols had two hits, reaching base for the 41st straight game to start the season.
Wellemeyer (4-1) allowed Luis Rivas' single with one out in the first, then gave up only three walks before Jose Bautista singled to start the eighth. That ended an outing that matched his career best since moving into the rotation last year.
CUBS 8, PADRES 5: At Chicago, Ted Lilly struck out 11 in six innings to win his third straight start, and Alfonso Soriano and Geovany Soto homered to lead the Cubs.
Backed by three RBIs apiece from Soriano and Soto, Lilly (4-4) allowed six hits and four runs in six innings. After striking out 10 against Arizona in his previous start, he fanned eight in the first four innings.
DIAMONDBACKS 4, ROCKIES 3: At Phoenix, Micah Owings threw six shutout innings and Brandon Lyon earned his 10th straight save while Arizona continued its domination of the defending NL champions.
ASTROS 6, GIANTS 3: At San Francisco, Miguel Tejada had three hits, including the go-ahead single in the seventh, and Lance Berkman and Brad Ausmus homered.