KANSAS CITY, Mo. – John Buck hit a three-run homer and Angel Berroa had two hits and scored twice in a 10-run fifth inning that carried the Kansas City Royals to a 17-8 rout of the New York Yankees on Monday night.

The Royals sent 15 men to the plate against four pitchers in the biggest inning against the Yankees since Boston scored 11 in a 13-7 victory on May 31, 1998.

It was the Royals second big inning in a week. They scored 11 runs in the third inning of a 26-5 victory Wednesday over the Detroit Tigers.

On Monday, Kansas City scored on a walk, a balk, two wild pitches, a home run and three singles.

Berroa wound up with five hits and scored five runs and Buck also had a single and two doubles and a career-best five RBIs for the Royals, who had lost six in a row to the Yankees and beaten them only twice in their last 10 meetings at home.

Brian Anderson (4-11) went six innings and gave up nine hits and three runs.

The Yankees – who lost 22-0 on Aug. 31 to Cleveland – saw their lead in the AL East shrink to three games over idle Boston.

Cubs 7, Pirates 2

CHICAGO – Sammy Sosa homered for the first time in more than two weeks and Derrek Lee drove in three runs to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.

Moises Alou and Neifi Perez also homered for the Cubs, who pulled within a half-game of idle San Francisco in the NL wild-card race.

The Cubs took advantage of rookie Frank Brooks in his first major league start, tagging him for five runs – four earned – in just one inning. But the Pirates didn’t help Brooks (0-1) much defensively, with shortstop Jack Wilson making an error for a second straight day.

After Perez, Chicago’s second batter, homered into the stands in left, Brooks walked Aramis Ramirez.

Alou hit what looked like a routine grounder to short, but Wilson bobbled the ball. He then made another error with a wild throw to first, allowing Ramirez to go to third and Alou to second.

Orioles 9 Blue Jays 1

TORONTO – Bruce Chen pitched his first complete game to win for the first time in over two years, and Rafael Palmeiro homered during a five-run opening inning to lead the Baltimore Orioles past the Toronto Blue Jays 9-1 Monday night.

Chen (1-0) allowed just five hits and a run in his first win since April 21, 2002, for Montreal versus the New York Mets. He struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.

Pitching for his sixth team in three seasons, Chen threw his first career complete game a night after the Orioles used 10 pitchers – a major league record in a nine-inning game.

Toronto starter Justin Miller (3-4), pitching a day after his grandfather died, got two outs in the first before allowing seven straight batters to reach.

Reds 4, Phillies 3

CINCINNATI – Jason LaRue drove in the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice grounder in the eighth inning and the Cincinnati Reds snapped the Philadelphia Phillies’ six-game winning streak with a 4-3 victory Monday night.

Wily Mo Pena led off the eighth against reliever Felix Rodriguez (5-8) with a double into the right-center field gap and moved to third on pinch-hitter Darren Bragg’s sacrifice. LaRue followed with a sharp grounder to second baseman Placido Polanco, who made a diving backhanded stop but couldn’t get up and throw in time to get Pena at the plate.

Joe Valentine (2-3) got the final out in the eighth for the win, and Danny Graves pitched the ninth for his 39th save.

Twins 5, Tigers 3

DETROIT – Lew Ford homered and drove in two runs to back a strong outing by Brad Radke, leading the Minnesota Twins to a 5-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Monday night and a sweep of the four-game series.

Augie Ojeda also homered for the Twins, who have won six straight, and 11 of 13.

Radke (11-7) allowed a run and seven hits in seven innings to improve to 17-6 lifetime against the Tigers. He struck out two and didn’t walk a batter.

Juan Rincon threw a scoreless eighth, but Joe Roa gave up two runs in the ninth before Joe Nathan got the final out for his 43rd save in 46 chances.

Mets 9, Braves 7

NEW YORK – Mike Piazza and Richard Hidalgo homered, pinch-hitter Craig Brazell came through with a go-ahead double and the New York Mets rallied past the Atlanta Braves 9-7 on Monday in the first game of a doubleheader.

After the Mets spent all afternoon answering questions about manager Art Howe, they came back from a three-run deficit to win for only the third time in 22 games. Aaron Heilman (1-1) earned his first major league win in more than a year, and Wilson Delgado also homered.

Andruw Jones hit a two-run shot to help the NL East-leading Braves build a 4-1 lead, but Jaret Wright (14-7) couldn’t hold it.

Rockies 9, D-backs 2

PHOENIX – Vinny Castilla reached 300 career homers and 1,000 RBIs with two of Colorado’s five home runs Monday night, and the Rockies hammered the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-2.

Luis Gonzalez hit a three-run homer off Arizona starter Casey Fossum, then Castilla, Burnitz and Brad Hawpe had solo shots off reliever Lance Cormier.

Castilla’s second home run of the night – and 32nd of the season – drove in two runs off Scott Service.

It was Castilla’s fourth multihomer game of the season and 32nd of his career. He has 119 RBIs this season, two behind NL leader Scott Rolen.