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SEATTLE - Alex Rodriguez called it the biggest victory of the season because slumping Derek Jeter got the big hit.
Jeter hit a tying two-run homer in the seventh inning and Hideki Matsui had a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth to give the New York Yankees a 7-6 victory over the Mariners on Sunday, their second comeback from a six-run deficit this week.
"That was a humongous hit," Rodriguez said. "I know he's been trying to drive the ball. He hit the ball a long ways. You don't see many right-handed hitters go to straightaway center in this ballpark."
The Mariners led 6-0 after knocking out Donovan Osborne, making his first start since May 6, 1999, in the second.
Jeter was hitting only .181 at game time when he homered 412 feet to centerfield off Julio Mateo.
"You want to help, and I haven't really been helping offensively lately," said Jeter, who is now hitting .186 after going 2-for-5 Sunday and 3-for-13 for the series. "I just want to be comfortable at the plate and today I was comfortable."
Jeter, a five-time All-Star shortstop, started the season with a .317 career batting average.
Jeter is going through one of the roughest periods of his career but isn't dwelling on his first five weeks of the season.
"I just wanted to get a good pitch," he said of his homer. "I've been swinging at some bad pitches as of late. I wanted to make sure I did and fortunately it went out."
Rodriguez and Jason Giambi also homered for the Yankees, who now have 12 come-from-behind wins.
New York's bullpen went 72/3 scoreless innings, with Paul Quantrill (4-1) getting the victory by pitching the seventh. Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his 28th consecutive save and 12th this season.
ROYALS 8, RED SOX 4: Darrell May earned his first victory since Sept. 21, Carlos Beltran had three hits with four RBIs and Kansas City snapped Boston's five-game win streak. May (1-3) allowed two runs and seven hits and a walk, striking out five before leaving with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth. Mike Sweeney was 2-for-2 with three intentional walks, and Kelly Stinnett homered for the Royals, who snapped four-game losing streak and won on the road for just the third time. Derek Lowe (3-3) gave up six runs and five hits and five walks in 52/3 innings. Manny Ramirez and Bill Mueller homered for Boston.
TIGERS 5, RANGERS 3: Alex Sanchez hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning, and Nate Robertson allowed three hits in seven-plus innings for visiting Detroit. With the score tied at 3, Sanchez hit a two-out homer off Kenny Rogers (4-2) to give the Tigers their first lead. Rondell White, who had two RBIs, added a run-scoring single off Jeff Nelson. Robertson (2-2) gave up three runs, struck out seven and walked two in 72/3 innings. The teams combined for 32 hits in Texas' 16-15 victory in 10 innings on Saturday. In that game, the Tigers squandered a 10-run lead in the greatest comeback in Rangers history with the teams combining for a major league-record 18 runs in the fifth inning.
ORIOLES 12, INDIANS 11: Miguel Tejada's second homer of the game highlighted a four-run sixth, and host Baltimore held on for its first three-game sweep of Cleveland since August 1993. Melvin Mora also homered, and Tejada, who came in with two home runs, had his sixth career two-homer game.
ATHLETICS 8, TWINS 4: Mark Mulder (3-2) pitched his first complete game of the season, and Bobby Kielty hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs for host Oakland. Billy McMillon had two hits with a run-scoring double, and Erubiel Durazo drove in two runs for the A's, who hadn't won a series at home since the season's first week.
BLUE JAYS 5, WHITE SOX 2: Justin Miller tied a career high by pitching seven strong innings, Frank Catalanotto hit a two-run homer and host Toronto won its season-high fifth straight. Miller (1-0) also tied a career high with seven strikeouts, allowing two runs and seven hits. The Blue Jays swept the White Sox in a three-game series for the first time since April 17-19, 1998. Esteban Loaiza (4-2) pitched his second complete game but took the loss.