By The Associated Press

ATLANTA – Jon Lester earned his first major league win with six good innings, Jason Varitek hit a three-run double and the Boston Red Sox beat the Atlanta Braves 4-1 Friday night.

Lester (1-0), a 22-year-old left-hander and one of Boston’s most touted prospects, pitched six strong innings in his second major league start. He allowed one run and five hits with three walks, and struck out five.

That was a big improvement over his debut last weekend, when he lasted 4 1-3 innings against Texas, giving up three runs and five hits with four walks.

Rudy Seanez, Mike Timlin and rookie Jonathan Papelbon finished up for Lester with each throwing a scoreless inning. Papelbon earned his 21st save in 22 chances and lowered his ERA to 0.27.

While Lester is looking up, the Braves are heading down. The team that has won a record 14 straight division titles lost for the 15th time in 18 games and fell to 30-38 with its fifth straight defeat.

The Braves have not been this far under .500 since the end of the 1990 season, when they wrapped up a last-place finish in the NL West at 65-97. Atlanta began its streak of division titles the following season and had not been more than seven games under .500 since then until Friday’s loss.

Tim Hudson (6-5) allowed only five hits in seven innings, but a streak of wildness in the third was his undoing.

After Coco Crisp led off with a walk, the right-hander retired the next two hitters. But Manny Ramirez walked, and Trot Nixon fouled off a 3-2 pitch before drawing ball four to load the bases.

Varitek then doubled off the center-field wall to drive home all three runners, giving the Red Sox a 4-0 lead.

The Red Sox jumped ahead in the second, with Varitek chipping in again. His single to right put two runners aboard, and Mike Lowell followed with an RBI single to center.

Yankees 7, Nationals 5

WASHINGTON – It sounded like a home game for the Yankees much of the night, and chants of “Ber-nie! Ber-nie!” rang throughout RFK Stadium in the ninth inning.

Bernie Williams hit a solo home run in the ninth to put New York ahead to stay in a 7-5 victory over the Washington Nationals on Friday night.

The Yankees came back from deficits of 3-2 and 5-3, tying the game with two runs in the eighth, and adding two more in the ninth off Nationals closer Chad Cordero (2-2). Williams hit the first pitch from Cordero for his sixth homer of the season, and Johnny Damon later added a sacrifice fly for the final margin.

White Sox 12, Reds 4

CINCINNATI – Joe Crede’s first-inning grand slam got Chicago’s high-powered offense rolling, and the White Sox extended their interleague domination of the Cincinnati Reds with a 12-4 victory Friday night.

Crede also had a double and a single, and Scott Podsednik drove in three runs with a pair of singles as the White Sox rocked left-hander Brandon Claussen (3-8) and kept on going against Cincinnati’s rickety bullpen.

Marlins 3, Blue Jays 1

MIAMI – Scott Olsen won his fourth consecutive start and Dan Uggla hit a go-ahead home run to lead the Florida Marlins over the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 Friday night.

Uggla’s two-run drive in the fifth gave Florida a 2-1 lead. Uggla hit Ty Taubenheim’s first pitch over the wall in left-center for his 12th homer of the season and second in two games.

Devil Rays 10, Phillies 4

PHILADELPHIA – Julio Lugo homered twice and Damon Hollins had his first four-hit game and drove in three runs to lead the Tampa Bay Devil Rays over the struggling Philadelphia Phillies 10-4 Friday night.

James Shields pitched six solid innings and Carl Crawford also had four hits for the Devil Rays, who have the second-worst record in the American League.

Orioles 6, Mets 3

NEW YORK – Erik Bedard won his first game in a month and Melvin Mora hit a two-run home run against his former team Friday night as the Baltimore Orioles came from behind to defeat New York 6-3, ending the Mets’ eight-game winning streak. Mora’s two-run shot capped a four-run seventh inning for the Orioles, who had lost three straight.

Royals 7, Astros 2

HOUSTON – Scott Elarton was perfect for five innings and Reggie Sanders had two RBIs and scored twice as the Kansas City Royals beat the Houston Astros 7-2 on Friday night.

In his first start against the team that he began his career with, Elarton (2-8) retired the first 15 batters before giving up four hits and two runs in the sixth for his second win of the year.

Tigers 5, Cubs 3

CHICAGO – Nate Robertson pitched seven effective innings and Curtis Granderson doubled, tripled and scored twice to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 5-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Friday.

Robertson (7-3) allowed two runs and five hits as the AL Central-leading Tigers won for the seventh time in nine games. The Cubs lost their fourth in a row.

Twins 4, Pirates 2

PITTSBURGH – Francisco Liriano shook off an early two-run deficit to strike out a career-best 11 and the Minnesota Twins rallied for three runs in the seventh against Ian Snell to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 Friday night.