NEW YORK (AP) – Gary Sheffield hit a tying homer in the ninth inning, and Alex Rodriguez’s two-run shot in the 11th gave the New York Yankees an 8-6 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night.

Eric Byrnes hit a three-run drive for one of three homers by the A’s, who tagged Esteban Loaiza for five runs in his Yankees debut. But New York rallied against the Athletics’ bullpen, sending Oakland to only its second loss in 11 games.

With the Yankees trailing 6-4 in the ninth, Derek Jeter blooped a one-out single to right off closer Octavio Dotel. Sheffield then sent a 1-1 pitch over the left-field fence to tie it, bringing a huge roar from the crowd of 47,885.

It was Dotel’s third blown save in 11 chances with the A’s since he was acquired from Houston.

After Mariano Rivera (3-1) threw 51 pitches in two scoreless innings, Sheffield singled with one out in the 11th off Justin Duchscherer (4-3). Rodriguez followed with a high drive over the left-field fence, giving him the AL lead with 29 home runs.

Rodriguez raised his right arm as he rounded first, then was greeted by his teammates at home plate in a matter-of-fact celebration, Yankee-style.

Rivera escaped a bases-loaded jam in the 10th with some help from new first baseman John Olerud, who made a nifty pickup and forced a runner at the plate for the second out. Mark Kotsay then flied to center.

Olerud hit a two-run single off Rich Harden in his first at-bat with the Yankees and finished 2-for-5. Hideki Matsui also homered for New York, which will try to win this three-game series between AL division leaders when sinkerballer Kevin Brown faces Oakland curveballer Barry Zito in an enticing Thursday matinee.

Jermaine Dye and Eric Chavez also connected for the A’s, who had won three straight.

A 21-game winner and runner-up for the AL Cy Young Award last season, Loaiza was acquired from the Chicago White Sox for pitcher Jose Contreras and $3 million just before baseball’s trade deadline Saturday.

Loaiza is supposed to help solidify the Yankees’ inconsistent rotation, but he struggled with his control Wednesday. Three of the four he walked scored, and he set up another run by hitting a batter with a pitch.

Making his second attempt at career win No. 100, the right-hander gave up five runs and six hits in six innings, striking out six.

Twins 6, Angels 3

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Justin Morneau homered for the second straight night, a drive on the first pitch of the sixth inning that sparked the Minnesota Twins to a 6-3 victory over the Anaheim Angels on Wednesday night.

Torii Hunter followed Morneau with a double, then Jacque Jones hit a two-run homer to break it open for the Twins – who have won 13 of 15. Combined with Chicago’s loss, Minnesota opened a season-high six-game lead in the AL Central.

Vladimir Guerrero homered for the Angels, who watched struggling Minnesota starter Kyle Lohse recover from a rough fourth inning to win for just the third time in 12 starts since the beginning of June.

Joe Nathan pitched the ninth for his 31st save in 32 opportunities. Nathan has not allowed an earned run since June 6 – a span of 24 innings.

Lohse (5-8) won 27 games over the last two seasons, but his unreliability this year has created concern about the back of Minnesota’s rotation.

Indians 14, Blue Jays 5

TORONTO – Travis Hafner homered twice and tied a career high with six RBIs, and the Cleveland Indians ended a four-game losing streak with a 14-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night.

Casey Blake went 5-for-6 to match a career high for hits as the Indians tied their season best with 21 hits. Cleveland also had 21 hits, including eight home runs, on July 16 at Seattle.

The Indians moved back to .500 with the win (54-54). They were a season-high three games over .500 when the skid began.

Hafner, who was 4-fo-5 also had six RBIs on July 20 at Anaheim. It’s the seventh time this season he’s had four or more RBIs in a game.

He hit a two-run homer off Josh Towers (6-4) in the first and a two-run shot off Justin Miller in the sixth for his fourth multihomer game this season.

Rangers 8, Tigers 0

DETROIT – Mike Bacsik gave up four hits over seven innings in his Texas debut, and Laynce Nix hit a two-run homer to lead the Rangers over the Detroit Tigers 8-0 Wednesday night.

Texas won its second straight game after losing five of seven. Detroit lost its third straight and was shut out for just the second time this year, the first since April 15.

Bacsik (1-0), who signed with Texas in December, struck out four and walked none. He became the 14th pitcher to start for Texas this season, the eighth who spent time in the minor leagues.

Brought up from Triple-A Oklahoma last week, Bacsik retired nine straight before Alex Sanchez singled leading off the fourth. The Tigers had two on and no outs, but Bacsik got out of the jam by striking out Ivan Rodriguez, and retiring Dmitri Young and Carlos Guillen on flyouts.

Bacsik was 4-4 with a 6.12 ERA in 12 starts and seven relief appearances in parts of three seasons with the New York Mets and Cleveland. His father, Mike, pitched for the Rangers from 1975-77, and they are the first father-son duo in Rangers history.

Carlos Almanzar and Joaquin Benoit followed with hitless relief, completing the sixth shutout of the season for the Rangers.

Jason Johnson (8-9) gave up five runs and 10 hits, tying a season high, over six innings. He was 4-1 in his previous eight starts.

Royals 11, White Sox 0

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Brian Anderson pitched a career-best two-hitter to win for the first time since April 20 and John Buck had three hits, including a three-run homer that capped a seven-run first inning Wednesday night in the Kansas City Royals’ 11-0 rout of the Chicago White Sox.

Aaron Rowand was the only batter to reach against Anderson, doubling leading off the game, walking in the third, then doubling again in the ninth. Anderson retired eight batters in a row before Rowand’s walk and 17 before the ninth-inning hit.

Anderson (2-9), who struck out seven and walked one, had been 0-9 in 11 starts and nine relief appearances since beating Cleveland on April 20. Anderson got his fourth career shutout, his first since a seven-hitter at Anaheim last Sept. 5 and only his second since Aug. 17, 1999, when he pitched the third three-hitter of his career. It was just his 11th complete game in 229 career starts.

Buck went 3-for-4 and is 7-for-15 with two homers and six RBIs in his last four games, and Desi Relaford also had three hits for the Royals, who finished with 17. The bottom third of the Royals’ lineup went 8-for-11 with three runs scored and five RBIs.

Orioles 6, Mariners 3

BALTIMORE (AP) – Rafael Palmeiro singled in two runs to snap a seventh-inning tie, and the Baltimore Orioles handed the Seattle Mariners their sixth straight loss, 6-3 on Wednesday night.

Brian Roberts also had two RBIs for the Orioles, who completed their first three-game home sweep of the Mariners since May 1997.

Randy Winn homered and Ichiro Suzuki had three hits for the Mariners, who have lost eight of nine to fall 29 games under .500 (39-68) for the first time since Aug. 13, 1988.

About the only positive for the Mariners was that they ended their major league-tying run of 26 straight games in which they yielded a home run. Seattle had given up a homer in every game since July 4.

The Orioles scored three runs on one hit in the seventh to take a 6-3 lead. Roberts drew a leadoff walk from Shigetoshi Hasegawa (4-4) and took second on a sacrifice before Melvin Mora walked and Miguel Tejada reached on an error by third baseman Willie Bloomquist, who was trying too quickly to turn a double play.