Giambi’s Power Lifts the Yankees

Jason Giambi’s second consecutive big game powered the New York Yankees to another come-from-behind victory.

Giambi hit two homers and drove in four runs as the Yankees rallied from a four-run deficit and beat the Mariners, 7-4, Monday night at Seattle for their fifth win in a row.

On Sunday, Giambi had two homers and seven runs batted in.

In this one, Mike Mussina had his second consecutive poor outing, and the Yankees needed Giambi’s power as they won after trailing by four runs for the second time in three games, the eighth time this season.

Starting a seven-game trip after a 6-1 homestand, New York remained 1 1/2 games behind AL East-leading Boston and opened a one-game lead in the AL wild-card race. The Yankees, a season-high 18 games over .500 at 74-56, have won six of seven this season against the Mariners, who are last in the AL West.

Boston 10, Tampa Bay 6 -- David Ortiz homered twice, giving him four in the last three games, and Johnny Damon hit his first leadoff homer since Boston’s World Series clincher to lead the Red Sox at Boston.

Matt Clement (12-3) won for the second time in eight starts since his All-Star game appearance. He gave up one run and three hits in five-plus innings, walking two and striking out three.

Minnesota 3, Kansas City 1 -- Nick Punto hit a two-run double in the 10th inning at Kansas City, Mo. Minnesota, struggling to stay in contention in the AL wild-card race, had lost four of five. The Twins are 13-6 in extra-inning games, the most extra-inning wins in the majors.

Texas 7, Chicago 5 -- Mark Teixeira had three hits and two RBIs for the Rangers at Arlington, Texas. Chicago made four errors, three by second baseman Tadahito Iguchi. The three errors by Iguchi were the most by a White Sox player since shortstop Jose Valentin had four on April 8, 2000.

Cleveland 10, Detroit 8 -- Jhonny Peralta, Coco Crisp and Ben Broussard drove in two runs apiece as the Indians kept up their late-season surge at Cleveland.