AL: Yanks bats help Johnson relax

NEW YORK - With Randy Johnson on short rest, Jason Giambi's big day helped make his job easy.

Giambi hit one of four Yankees homers and doubled twice, and Johnson gave New York seven clutch innings in a 12-3 victory Tuesday over the Baltimore Orioles.

Alex Rodriguez also connected, and Giambi, Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui all homered for the second straight game.

"Today was just one of those magical days where everyone was swinging the bat well," Rodriguez said.

Derek Jeter and Ruben Sierra added three hits each for the Yankees, who swept the two-game series and have won four straight to move within a half-game of second-place Baltimore in the East.

"We're lucky," New York manager Joe Torre said. "We understand if you're hovering around the .500 mark in some other division, that doesn't bode well for you."

With their pitchers struggling, the Orioles have lost 11 of 13.

"I think the last few weeks, we've given everything we have. We're just coming out on the wrong side of it," manager Lee Mazzilli said.

Starting on three days' rest in the regular season for the first time in 10 years, Johnson bounced back from an awful performance in Detroit on Friday, when he was roughed up for seven runs and nine hits in five innings.

But he threw only 80 pitches in that one and was eager to get back on the mound, a good thing for the injury-riddled Yankees, who used five pitchers in a 13-8 win Monday.

Johnson retired the first 12 batters with five strikeouts before Miguel Tejada's infield single. He threw 92 pitches and struck out eight without walking a batter for his 254th win.

"His pitch count early was terrific, and I think that was a big reason he was able to last seven innings," Torre said. "He looked a little relaxed and yet very focused."

Johnson gave up seven hits, including a two-run homer by former Devil Ray Chris Gomez, his first this season. The left-hander improved to 5-1 in regular-season starts on three days' rest.

Johnson even tossed an accidental blooper pitch to Sal Fasano in the third, drawing cheers from the crowd of 55,276 as a sheepish Johnson broke into a smile.

RED SOX 7, RANGERS 4: Manny Ramirez hit his 20th career grand slam, and David Ortiz and Bill Mueller also homered for visiting Boston.

Ramirez hit his third grand slam of the season in the third inning off Chris Young, giving the Red Sox a 6-0 lead and tying him for the league lead with 22 homers. Two batters later, Mueller's fourth homer chased the rookie pitcher.

Ramirez has the second-most grand slams in history, trailing Lou Gehrig's 23.

A'S 10, BLUE JAYS 7 (11): Scott Hatteberg hit a two-run single in the 11th and Bobby Crosby hit an inside the park home run for visiting Oakland, which has won 10 of 11 to reach .500 for the first time since May 2.

The Athletics had a chance to close out the win in the ninth, but second baseman Marco Scutaro failed to turn a potential game-ending double play when his throw to first sailed into the stands and allowed Russ Adams to score the tying run.

ANGELS 2, TWINS 1: Bengie Molina drove in the go-ahead run with a homer as host Los Angeles won for the 12th tim in 15 games. Molina had two hits, including his seventh homer of the season that gave the Angels a 2-1 lead in the fifth.

TIGERS 3, INDIANS 2: Mike Maroth cooled off Cleveland's hitters as visiting Detroit won for the third time in 13 games. The Indians, averaging 5.8 runs over their previous 29 games, lost for the third time in 11 games.

ROYALS 8, MARINERS 6: David DeJesus drove in three to help shake host Kansas City out of its offensive doldrums. The Royals had lost 14 of 16 and been shut out three of their past four games.

[Last modified July 6, 2005, 01:06:02]