Tampa Bay's bullpen shut down the Boston Red Sox for the second day in a row as the Rays won 3-2 in the American League Tuesday. Tampa Bay starter Jeff Niemann (7-2) pitched six strong innings, giving up only one unearned run, to notch his first win in a month. Jason Bartlett drove in Tampa Bay's first run with a single off Felix Doubront (1-1) in the third. Sean Rodriguez tripled and scored on John Jaso's grounder, giving the Rays a 2-1 lead in the fifth. Carl Crawford's solo homer added an insurance run in the eighth. Daniel Nava drove in Boston's first run with a single off Niemann in the fourth. Four relievers held the Red Sox to one hit until Bill Hall walked and scored on Eric Patterson's two-out triple in the ninth off Rafel Soriano, who earned his 23rd save. Yankees 6, Athletics 1: In Oakland, New York's Alex Rodriguez hit his 21st career grand slam and added a solo shot for his 597th home run, helping beat Oakland. Rodriguez connected with the bases loaded in the third inning to tie Manny Ramirez for the second most slams, then went deep again in the sixth off Trevor Cahill (8-3) to lead the Yankees to their fourth straight win. A-Rod has 21 home runs at the Coliseum, the most by a visiting player. New York starter C.C. Sabathia (11-3) won his seventh straight, allowing only one run in 7 2-3 innings. A's starter Cahill (8-3), who had won seven straight decisions, allowed six runs, the most he has given up since his first start of the season New York's nine season grand slams are one shy of the club record set in 1987. White Sox 4, Angels 1: In Chicago, Andruw Jones hit his 399th career home run as Chicago beat Los Angeles. The White Sox won despite losing starter Jake Peavy in the second inning because of a back injury. In other games it was: Twins 7, Blue Jays 6; Rangers 12, Indians 1; Royals 3, Mariners 2; Tigers 7, Orioles 5, 11 innings. Mets shut out Reds New York's ace pitcher Johan Santana hit his first major league homer, while pitching a shutout as the Mets blanked the Cincinnati Reds 3-0 in the National League Tuesday. Santana, a .166 lifetime hitter, steamed around the bases after capping a tenacious 12-pitch at-bat with his first homer in 182 career at-bats. From the mound, Santana (6-5) struck out five in his seventh career shutout and first since 2008. He'd won only one of his previous seven starts. Cincinnati starter Matt Maloney (0-1) lost in his first game for the Reds this season, after being called up from the minors earlier in the day and striking out the first seven batters. Braves 6, Phillies 3, 11 innings: In Philadelphia, Matt Diaz hit a tiebreaking double in the 11th inning then Eric Hinske added a two-run homer as Atlanta saw off Philadelphia. Yunel Escobar singled off David Herndon (0-2) to start the 11th and scored when Diaz ripped a liner to the gap in right-center. Hinske connected two outs later. Jesse Chavez (1-1) pitched a scoreless 10th to earn the win. Billy Wagner finished for his 18th save. Raul Ibanez hit a two-run homer for Philadelphia, which managed just three hits and fell five games behind the NL East-leading Braves. Elsewhere it was: Rockies 12, Cardinals 9; Nationals 6, Padres 5; Dodgers 7, Marlins 3; Giants 6, Brewers 1; Cubs 6, Diamondbacks 4; Astros 6, Pirates 2.
