ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Kevin Brown allowed three hits in 7 2-3 innings and the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 5-3 Saturday night to take over first place in the AL East.

Bernie Williams, Ruben Sierra and Enrique Wilson homered for the defending AL champions, who climbed to a season-high 12 games over .500 (30-18) with their sixth straight win on a 12-game road trip that ends Sunday.

Pitching on a week’s rest because he left the Yankees for two days to handle a personal matter, Brown (6-1) limited the Devil Rays to Toby Hall’s leadoff single in the third until Hall led off the eighth with his third home run of the season.

Carl Crawford walked, stole second and scored on Rocco Baldelli’s two-out double, chasing the Yankees starter. After reliever Felix Heredia gave up an RBI double to Aubrey Huff, leaving New York with a 5-3 lead, Tom Gordon struck out Fred McGriff to end the inning.

Mariano Rivera, who got his 300th career save on Friday night, worked a hitless ninth to earn his AL-leading 18th save this season.

Four of Brown’s six victories have come against the Devil Rays, who have scored just six runs in 28 2-3 innings against the right-hander. Brown walked three, struck out five and allowed just one runner past first base until the eighth.

Angels 5, White Sox 1

CHICAGO – Aaron Sele allowed four hits in 6 1-3 innings to remain unbeaten, and the Anaheim Angels stopped a four-game losing streak by beating the Chicago White Sox 5-1.

Jeff DaVanon had two doubles and a single for the Angels, who scored five in the fourth inning off Jon Rauch (0-1).

Blue Jays 6, Rangers 2

TORONTO – Miguel Batista struck out a season-high seven in eight innings to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to their fifth straight victory, 6-2 over the struggling Texas Rangers.

Toronto’s Carlos Delgado left after the fifth inning with an irritated right ribcage. He grimaced after swinging the bat on a groundout.

Royals 5, Twins 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Dennys Reyes won his first decision in 27 appearances and Carlos Beltran hit a tiebreaking, three-run double that led the Kansas City Royals over the Minnesota Twins 5-2.

Reyes (1-0) had not won since beating Seattle in relief for Texas on Sept. 9, 2002.

Indians 8, Athletics 6

CLEVELAND – Jody Gerut singled home Matt Lawton with the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as the Cleveland Indians rallied for a 8-6 win over the sloppy and wild Oakland Athletics.

Gerut’s base hit off Arthur Rhodes (1-2) came shortly after the A’s committed their third error. Oakland’s pitchers also issued 10 walks.

Orioles 8, Tigers 4

DETROIT – Miguel Tejada homered for the third straight game and Larry Bigbie drove in three runs, leading the Baltimore Orioles to an 8-4 win over the Detroit Tigers.

Daniel Cabrera (3-1) allowed three runs – two earned – on seven hits in five innings for the win.

He walked four and struck out three.

John Parrish gave up one run and two hits in four innings in relief for his first save.

Baltimore got to Jeremy Bonderman (4-4) early, pounding him for seven runs and 10 hits in just 2 1-3 innings.

The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the first on Rafael Palmeiro’s RBI single, but the Tigers tied it in their half on Ivan Rodriguez’s run-scoring double.

Baltimore came right back with four in the top of the second off Bonderman to take a 5-1 lead.

B.J. Surhoff singled to right, Luis Matos walked and Bigbie hit an RBI single to make it 2-1. After Luis Lopez’s sacrifice moved up the runners, Hairston doubled to left to drive in two runs. Hairston stole third, and scored one out later on Tejada’s single.

Baltimore added two more in the third on Bigbie’s two-run single.

The Tigers got a run in the third on Carlos Pena’s sacrifice fly, and the fourth on Jason Smith’s RBI single to make it 7-3.

Detroit loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth, but Cabrera got Brandon Inge to ground out to end the inning.

Tejada hit his eighth homer of the season off Steve Colyer to give the Tigers an 8-3 lead.

Smith, who had a career-high three hits, tripled to lead off the ninth. One out later, Carlos Guillen drove him in with an infield single to cap the scoring.

Notes: Baltimore’s Melvin Mora extended his hitting streak to 11 games (20-for-46) by going 1-for-5. … Detroit OF-DH Dmitri Young, on rehabilitation assignment at Triple-A Toledo, hit for the cycle and had five RBIs in Saturday night’s game. He hit a three-run homer in his first at bat. He has been sidelined since the second game of the season with a broken bone in his leg. … Palmeiro moved into 17th place in career RBIs with 1,716. He was tied with Cap Anson at 1,715. … The Orioles stole four bases against Inge. Rodriguez was the Tigers’ designated hitter.

AP-ES-05-29-04 2213EDT

It was the right-hander’s first save since last Aug. 3 for Colorado at Pittsburgh. Jimenez picked up his first AL win Friday.

Trailing 6-2, the Indians scored one run in the fifth, two in the sixth and three in the eighth to hand the A’s their fourth loss in five games.

Eric Chavez drove in three runs for Oakland.

The Indians were still down 6-5 in the eighth when Alex Escobar tripled off Justin Duchscherer with one out in the eighth. Rhodes came in and got Lawton to hit a grounder to charging shortstop Bobby Crosby. The rookie fielded it cleanly, but his rushed throw to the plate was wild and Escobar scored the tying run.

Lawton went to second on the throw, moved up on an infield single and scored on Gerut’s single to center.

Oakland starter Rich Harden walked six and was lifted before getting an out in the sixth. But the Indians didn’t take advantage of his wildness.

Despite five walks in the first four innings, Harden didn’t give up a hit until the fifth when Vizquel grounded a single to center with two outs.

Escobar, who reached on catcher Adam Melhuse’s throwing error, scored on Vizquel’s single when center fielder Mark Kotsay’s throw hit him in the back as he approached third and bounced into the photographer’s pit.

The Indians chased Harden an inning later, closing within 6-5 on Hafner’s RBI double and pinch-hitter Victor Martinez’s RBI single off reliever Chad Bradford.

The A’s opened a 6-2 lead in the fifth on Scott Hatteberg’s RBI single and Erubiel Durazo’s two-run double off reliever Lou Pote, making his debut with the Indians.

Low-flying seagulls inside Jacobs Field swooped above the outfield in the first inning in search of food, and it appeared the A’s were going to feast on Joe Dawley, too.

Chavez hit a two-run double, but Dawley settled down and retired five in a row before becoming unraveled in the second. He walked the bases loaded and then threw four straight balls to Chavez, forcing in Oakland’s third run.

Notes: The A’s entered with an AL-low 22 errors this season. … Dawley made his first big league appearance since May 15 of last season for Atlanta at San Diego. … Indians 1B Ben Broussard is in an 0-for-25 slump. … Indians SS Omar Vizquel, whose off-field talents include painting and playing the drums, will have some of his art work displayed in an exhibition at The Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio, next month.

AP-ES-05-29-04 2235EDT

four runs and six hits in 6 10-3 innings. Minnesota lost its third straight.

Ken Harvey’s sixth straight hit, a two-out, RBI double, put Kansas City ahead in the first. Torii Hunter stopped an 0-for-16 skid with a run-scoring double in the fourth that scored Doug Mientkiewicz, who slid home on a close play. Michael Cuddyer tripled for a 2-1 lead.

Cuddyer went 2-for-2 with two walks and has reached in nine straight plate appearances.

Notes: The Twins have lost seven in a row and 14 of 18 when scoring three runs or fewer. … Umpire Charlie Reliford, scheduled to work second base, left because of a death in his family and was replaced by Mike Jost. … C Joe Mauer had one hit in his first game at Triple-A Rochester and the Twins remained confident he would rejoin the team some time next week. He had knee surgery after going on the DL on April 5. … When Santana struck Harvey out with a changeup in the fourth, it was the first time in eight plate appearances the DH/1B had not reached.

AP-ES-05-29-04 1653EDT

Notes: Delgado left Monday’s game against Anaheim after the third inning with a jammed right knee. … Berg ended a 0-for-12 slump with a single in the seventh. … The Rangers have lost five of six. … Texas is 1-4 so far on its 11-game trip.

AP-ES-05-29-04 1858EDT