CLEVELAND – Jhonny Peralta hit a three-run homer off Andy Pettitte in the fifth inning and Cleveland won its fourth straight, beating New York 6-4 in the Yankees’ first visit since last year’s AL playoffs when they were bombarded by swarming bugs.

Peralta’s big shot off Pettitte (3-2) put the Indians ahead 4-3, and Franklin Gutierrez followed with a homer off the lefty. Peralta finished with four RBIs and Jamey Carroll had a run-scoring single and stole two bases for the Indians.

Interim closer Rafael Betancourt worked a perfect ninth for his second save in two nights.

Jason Giambi homered twice and Hideki Matsui connected for the Yankees.

Paul Byrd (1-2) allowed four runs and six hits in 5 2-3 innings. The right-hander gave up all three homers, but he didn’t walk a batter and had his third straight strong outing.

Angels 4, Tigers 3

DETROIT – Vladimir Guerrero homered to highlight a four-run fourth inning and the Los Angeles Angels held off Detroit, ending the Tigers’ four-game winning streak.

The Tigers were coming off a three-game sweep of Texas in which they scored 37 runs, but didn’t have nearly as much success against Ervin Santana (4-0).

Santana pitched 6 1-3 innings, allowing three runs and six hits. Justin Speier escaped jams in the seventh and eighth innings, and Francisco Rodriguez pitched the ninth for his 10th save in 11 tries.

Santana and Tigers starter Nate Robertson (0-3) cruised through the first three innings before running into trouble in the fourth.

Royals 8, Blue Jays 4

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – John Buck doubled twice and drove in a pair of runs, and Kansas City used a six-run eighth inning to snap a seven-game losing streak.

Buck’s double in the eighth scored pinch-runner Esteban German with the go-ahead run. Buck also doubled home Ross Gload in the fourth, snapping the Royals’ 15-inning scoreless drought.

Blue Jays shortstop David Eckstein committed two errors, one of them in the eighth that led to two unearned runs.

A.J. Burnett took a 4-2 lead into the inning, but was pulled with one out after giving up a run on two singles and a walk. Burnett (2-2) was charged with five runs, three earned, on eight hits and three walks, while striking out six.

Leo Nunez (2-0) go the win in relief, even though he allowed three runs.

Rangers 6, Twins 5

ARLINGTON, Texas – David Murphy hit a 10th-inning RBI single and Texas snapping its seven-game losing streak.

Hank Blalock hit a one-out double against pitcher Juan Rincon (2-1). With two outs and the outfield pulled in, Murphy hit a fly ball to the warning track in left-center field. Pinch-runner German Duran crossed home plate with the winning run, and Murphy was mobbed on the field by his teammates.

It didn’t start nearly as well for Texas, which fell behind 5-0. Justin Morneau, who has battered Texas pitching, drove in all of the Twins’ runs with a third-inning grand slam and an RBI single in the first. Carlos Gomez bunted for a hit to begin each of those innings.

Braves 6, Mets 3

NEW YORK – Jair Jurrjens walked three consecutive batters with the bases loaded in the third inning, then got his first major league hit ahead of Kelly Johnson’s tiebreaking, two-run homer to help the Atlanta Braves beat the struggling New York Mets 6-3 Friday night.

Johnson had four RBIs for the Braves, who sent the Mets to their fifth loss in six games following a five-game winning streak. Jurrjens (3-2) recovered from his wild stretch – he didn’t allow another batter to reach and retired his final 10 batters – combining with four relievers on a two-hitter.

Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox was smoking was ejected for the 136th time, extending his major league record.

Mike Pelfrey (2-1) gave up five runs, nine hits and four walks in 5 1-3 innings.

Phillies 6, Pirates 5

PITTSBURGH – Chris Coste had three hits and three RBIs, and the Phillies’ bullpen pitched more than five innings of effective relief in Philadelphia’s win over Pittsburgh.

Jayson Werth hit his fourth home run in five games and had two RBIs for Philadelphia, which has won five of six games.

Tom Gordon (2-2) pitched one inning of relief to pick up the win. Brad Lidge pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save in six chances. He has pitched 11 innings without allowing a run.

Xavier Nady had two hits and three RBIs, Ryan Doumit added two hits, and Jason Bay homered for the Pirates, who have lost eight of 10.

The Phillies, whose last three wins were thanks to late-inning rallies, jumped out to a six-run lead against Zach Duke (0-2).

Nationals 5, Cubs 3

WASHINGTON – Wil Nieves hit first major league homer, a two-run shot in the ninth inning, to give Washington the win over Chicago.

Nieves drove an 0-2 pitch from Chicago’s Bob Howry (0-2) into the Washington bullpen in right field for the Nationals’ second straight win after dropping 16 of 19 games.

Jon Rauch (2-0), Washington’s fifth pitcher of the evening, worked a perfect ninth.

Chicago, the NL Central leaders, had won six of its previous seven.

Nick Johnson hit a two-run home run off Ryan Dempster.

into the second deck in right field in the first inning. It was the first home run to reach the second deck of Nationals Park since it opened this season.