NEW YORK – Jorge Posada hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high seven runs, and the New York Yankees overcame four errors and routed the Detroit Tigers 15-5 on Wednesday night.

Hideki Matsui homered and drove in three runs and Nick Johnson also homered, but made three of the Yankees’ defensive miscues. New York won its fourth straight and remained 3 games ahead of Boston in the AL East.

Andy Pettitte (18-8) labored through six innings, allowing four runs – two earned – and struck out seven and walked three. He rebounded from a rough outing against Boston last Friday night, when he gave up eight earned runs and nine hits in 2 1-3 innings in a 9-3 loss.

Posada, 3-for-4 with a walk, hit his sixth career grand slam off Brian Schmack into the bleachers in right-center in the eighth inning.

Athletics 3, Angels 0

OAKLAND, Calif. – Ted Lilly won his career-best fourth straight start and Erubiel Durazo went 3-for-4 with a double to lead the Oakland Athletics to a 3-0 win over the Anaheim Angels on Wednesday night.

The A’s desperately needed a strong pitching performance, and Lilly calmly delivered.

He retired the first seven Angels hitters and nine of the first 10 batters as the A’s won for the second straight night against Anaheim following a frustrating three-game losing streak. Oakland entered the game with a 2 game lead over Seattle in the AL West – its biggest edge in the division since April 10.

Durazo, batting in the second spot in the order for the fourth time this year, is 10-for-45 (.222) with one RBI in his last 14 games, but is showing signs that he’s working out of his offensive funk.

Blue Jays 6, Devil Rays 5

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Vernon Wells and Carlos Delgado hit back-to-back homers in the seventh inning, and Wells drove in three runs as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 6-5 Wednesday night.

Wells’ two-run homer in the seventh put the Blue Jays ahead 5-3. It was his first homer since Aug. 20 and his 31st of the season.

Delgado followed with his 35th homer – his first since Aug. 27 – to make it 6-3. Delgado leads the AL with 125 RBIs.

Marlins 7, Mets 3

NEW YORK – Juan Encarnacion and Derrek Lee hit back-to-back doubles that broke a fifth-inning tie and helped the Florida Marlins to a 7-3 victory over the New York Mets on Wednesday.

It was the 11th victory in 13 games for the Marlins, who began the game tied for the NL wild-card lead with Philadelphia. The loss was the seventh straight for the Mets, the first four to the Phillies, the last three to the Marlins.

Errors by third baseman Ty Wigginton and shortstop Jorge Velandia, and a nonchalant play by left fielder Raul Gonzalez led to the first five Florida runs. Then, Danny Garcia missed a foul pop, giving Ivan Rodriguez a second chance in the ninth inning and he hit a two-run wrapup homer.

Expos 8, Cubs 4

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Pinch-hitter Jose Macias hit a go-ahead double in a five-run eighth inning, and the Montreal Expos overcame a four-run deficit to beat the Chicago Cubs 8-4 Wednesday night.

Chicago, which began the night tied with Houston for the NL Central lead, was ahead 4-0 behind Matt Clement, who took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning.

Clement walked his first three batters in the inning and was replaced by Mark Guthrie, who walked the next two batters, forcing in a pair of runs. Orlando Cabrera followed with an RBI single off Dave Veres.

Braves 4, Phillies 2

ATLANTA – Javy Lopez homered to give the Braves a franchise-record 216 homers this season, and Atlanta rebounded from a big loss to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 Wednesday night.

A day earlier, Philadelphia won 18-5, the fifth time this season the Braves have lost by 10 or more runs. Each time, they’ve bounced back to win the next game.

Horacio Ramirez (10-4) won his second straight decision, allowing six hits in seven innings. He gave up solo homers to Pat Burrell in the second and Tomas Perez in the seventh, and struck out seven without walking a batter.

Pirates 3, Reds 2

CINCINNATI – Pinch-hitter Rob Mackowiak hit a two-run homer off Chris Reitsma in the ninth inning, giving the Pittsburgh Pirates a 3-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night.

The Reds struck out 12 times to set the club record for strikeouts in a season with 1,189. They struck out 1,188 times last year. Cincinnati has struck out 10 or more times in 40 of their 145 games.

Royals 9, Indians 7

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Brent Mayne’s two-run double highlighted a five-run fifth inning, and the Kansas City Royals snapped a four-game home losing streak with a 9-7 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday night.

Kris Wilson (6-3) earned the win with one inning of relief work. After a clutch setup performance by Curtis Leskanic, Jeremy Affeldt went 2 1/3 perfect innings for his fourth save in as many chances.

Royals 9, Indians 7

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Brent Mayne’s two-run double highlighted a five-run fifth inning, and the Kansas City Royals snapped a four-game home losing streak with a 9-7 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday night.

Kris Wilson (6-3) earned the win with one inning of relief work. After a clutch setup performance by Curtis Leskanic, Jeremy Affeldt went 2 1/3 perfect innings for his fourth save in as many chances.

Josh Bard hit a three-run homer and Alex Escobar and Jody Gerut had three hits each for the Indians, who lost for the seventh time in eight games.

Cardinals 10, Rockies 2

ST. LOUIS – Albert Pujols hit two home runs and Brett Tomko pitched a six-hitter and had two hits as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies 10-2 Wednesday night, giving Tony La Russa his 2, 000th win as a manager.

J.D. Drew and Scott Rolen also homered for St. Louis, which remained 2 games back of first-place Houston and moved within 1 of Chicago in the NL Central.

La Russa became the eighth manager in major league history to reach 2,000 wins. In his 25th season – eighth with St. Louis, La Russa is 2,000-1,782.

Twins 4, White Sox 1

CHICAGO – Shannon Stewart drove in a pair of runs and Johan Santana won his fourth straight decision Wednesday night as the Minnesota Twins pulled within one game of the AL Central lead with a 4-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

Cristian Guzman and Matthew LeCroy also drove in runs for Minnesota, which snapped a six-game losing streak to the White Sox. It was only the Twins’ second victory in their last 13 games in Chicago.

D-backs 5, Dodgers 4

PHOENIX – Pinch-hitter Steve Finley’s three-run homer capped a five-run rally in the eighth inning as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-4 Wednesday night.

Finley entered as a pinch-hitter to face Paul Quantrill (1-5) after Shea Hillenbrand cut Arizona’s deficit to 4-2 with a two-run shot into the bullpen off reliever Tom Martin. Martin also allowed a single to Lyle Overbay and hit Danny Bautista before he was removed to make way for Quantrill.

Finley, hitless in his last eight at-bats, drove a 1-0 pitch into the swimming pool pavilion in right-center, and Matt Mantei worked a perfect ninth for his 22nd save in 25 chances as the Diamondbacks snapped a five-game home losing skid and ended the Dodgers’ five-game win streak.

The Dodgers dropped three games behind Florida in the NL wild-card race.

Arizona’s Oscar Villarreal (8-7) got the win by working the eighth inning – his NL-record 79th appearance by a rookie.

Kazuhisa Ishii pitched one-hit ball for six innings for the Dodgers, allowing three walks and striking out six.

He also hit a leadoff triple in the fifth, snapping an 0-for-45 streak (0-for-24 this year), and scored.

It wasn’t easy for Los Angeles after the Japanese left-hander left the game.

The Diamondbacks loaded the bases with two out against Guillermo Mota in their seventh, but Mota fielded Alex Cintron’s sharp grounder to the mound and threw him out.

In the eighth, Hillenbrand broke up the shutout with a two-run homer off Martin, who got the first two outs and then allowed two hits and a walk before Quantrill entered.

The Dodgers played small ball against sinkerball specialist Brandon Webb, scoring on Jolbert Cabrera’s RBI double, a sacrifice, a fielder’s choice and a groundout.

Webb gave up six hits and one walk and hit a batter in seven innings.

Los Angeles had its second three-run inning in as many nights against the Diamondbacks in the second.

Fred McGriff and Adrian Beltre led off with singles. After a flyout, Cabrera doubled, and the Dodgers added two more on a bizarre play at first.

Cora bunted, bringing Beltre home from third, and first base umpire Ted Barrett called Cora safe at first. But Cora thought he was out, turned toward the dugout, and Barrett called him out.

Second baseman Junior Spivey, whose failure to touch first resulted in the confusion, chased Cora and tagged him, allowing Cabrera to score from second.

In the fifth, Ishii led off with a triple into right-center gap and scored on Paul Lo Duca’s groundout for a 4-0 lead.

Notes: Dodgers CF Dave Roberts missed his sixth straight start because of neck pain and said he would have the verterbrae checked. Roberts wasn’t sure if he would need an MRI. … Ishii’s triple was the first by a Dodgers pitcher since Eric Gagne’s one Aug. 21, 2001, at Florida. … Tim Burke of Montreal (1985) and Houston’s Ricky Stone (2002) had the NL rookie appearance record. Villarreal also moved past Byung-Hyun Kim for the club record by a reliever. … Quantrill also made his 79th appearance, tying Villarreal for the league lead. … LHP Chris Capuano will start Thursday for Arizona in place of RHP Curt Schilling, who has been having neck spasms.

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But now that lead is back down to one, with only four games left between the teams.

Trailing 3-1, the White Sox threatened in the seventh. Carl Everett led off with a single and Joe Crede drew a walk from Santana. Both advanced on Jose Valentin’s sacrifice bunt, giving Chicago runners at second and third.

LaTroy Hawkins relieved, and pinch-hitter Brian Daubach appeared to foul a ball off. But home plate umpire Ed Rapuano said the ball was live, and catcher A.J. Pierzynski grabbed it ball and tagged Daubach for the second out.

White Sox manager Jerry Manuel argued, but the call stood.

Pinch-hitter Roberto Alomar then worked Hawkins to a 3-2 count before striking out to end the threat. LeCroy gave the Twins an insurance run with a run-scoring double in the eighth.

Santana (10-3) scattered six hits and a run in 6 1-3 innings for his first career victory against the White Sox. Eddie Guardado got the final three outs for his 34th save in 37 chances.

Magglio Ordonez drove in the only run for Chicago, which had won six straight. The White Sox stranded seven, four in scoring position.

Jon Garland (11-11) gave up three hits and seven hits in seven innings, striking out five and walking two.

Garland allowed just two hits in the first four innings, but he got in trouble in the fifth after a questionable call. Tony Graffanino made a tough, sliding stop on Torii Hunter’s grounder, and his throw to first appeared to be in time.

But Hunter was called safe. Corey Koskie followed with a single, and Garland hit Pierzynski to load the bases.

Guzman and Stewart then had back-to-back sacrifice flies to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead.

The White Sox got a run back in the sixth on Ordonez’s sacrifice fly. Stewart’s RBI single in the seventh gave the Twins an insurance run.

Notes: The loss snapped a five-game home winning streak for Chicago. … The White Sox scored just one run behind Garland, well below their average of 6.17 runs when he’s on the mound. … Stewart is batting .379 over his last six games.

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