NEW YORK – On the opening day of this year’s Subway Series, Al Leiter and the New York Mets were the top team in town.

Leiter escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first inning and the Mets beat up rookie Brad Halsey in a six-run fourth that propelled them past the Yankees 9-3 on Saturday.

In his first major league game against Hideki Matsui, Kaz Matsui – who is not related – hit a two-run single that opened up a 6-2 lead. Jose Reyes had a big single and a key stolen base, and every Mets starter except Mike Cameron had a hit.

The Mets finished with 12 hits and stopped a seven-game losing streak against their crosstown rival, pulling back to .500 at 36-36.

Derek Jeter, celebrating his 30th birthday, was a quiet 2-for-4 for the Yankees, who are 24-13 against the Mets in the regular season since interleague play began in 1997.

Angels 7, Dodgers 5

LOS ANGELES – Garret Anderson’s second two-run homer drove in the go-ahead runs in the eighth, and Vladimir Guerrero added a two-run shot and scored three times to help the Anaheim Angels rally for a 7-5 victory over the slumping Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday.

Anderson’s sixth homer off Guillermo Mota followed a leadoff single by Guerrero and snapped a 5-5 tie.

The win was the Angels’ sixth straight against Los Angeles dating to last season. They hit four homers in handing the Dodgers a 13-0 loss on Friday night.

Rangers 8, Astros 7

ARLINGTON, Texas – Hank Blalock matched a career high with four hits, including the go-ahead homer in the eighth inning, and the Texas Rangers beat Houston 8-7 Saturday for their eighth straight win.

Blalock went 4-for-5 and his 18th homer came with two outs off Dan Miceli (3-3). He’s hitting .528 (28-of-53) over his last 15 games.

Houston, which claimed the Lone Star Series the last two seasons, lost for the second time in less than 24 hours since acquiring outfielder Carlos Beltran from Kansas City in a three-way trade in which they gave up closer Octavio Dotel.

Braves 5, Orioles 0

BALTIMORE – Russ Ortiz pitched seven scoreless innings to earn his first victory in June, and the Atlanta Braves scored early and late Saturday in a 5-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

Ortiz (7-6) allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out four. He was 0-2 in four starts this month after going 4-1 in May.

The right-hander was replaced by John Smoltz after walking David Newhan to open the eighth with the score 2-0. Miguel Tejada singled on the first pitch, but Smoltz retired Rafael Palmeiro on a popup before getting former Braves catcher Javy Lopez to hit into a double play.

White Sox 6, Cubs 3

CHICAGO – Paul Konerko and Joe Crede homered in a five-run third to back a solid six-inning effort from rookie right-hander Felix Diaz on Saturday in the Chicago White Sox’s 6-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

Jose Valentin added a solo homer in the seventh for the White Sox, who lead the majors in scoring and tied the interleague series between the teams at 1-1.

Diaz (1-1) got his first big league victory in a frenetic setting at U.S. Cellular Field.

He’d just been called up Friday to start the game after Scott Schoeneweis was put on the disabled list with a sore elbow.

Blue Jays 10, Expos 5

TORONTO – Miguel Batista pitched seven strong innings, and Frank Menechino and Reed Johnson hit home runs to lead the Toronto Blue Jays past the Montreal Expos 10-5 on Saturday.

Toronto took advantage of three errors by Montreal, which entered with the fewest errors in the majors, leading to four unearned runs.

The Blue Jays won despite missing their top three hitters: first baseman Carlos Delgado, center fielder Vernon Wells and left fielder Frank Catalanotto, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with a strained right groin.

Devil Rays 6, Marlins 4

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Carl Crawford drove in three runs, including a go-ahead RBI double in the seventh, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Florida Marlins 6-4 on Saturday night to tie a major league record with their 13th straight interleague victory.

The Devil Rays also became the first team in major league history to climb above .500 at any point in a season after being 18 games below, continuing a surge during which they’ve compiled baseball’s best record – 26-7 – since May 20.

Tampa Bay was 10-28 after losing 19 of 22 from April 25-May 19. But their turnaround, which included a club-record 12-game winning streak, has them at 36-35 – the latest point in a season they’ve been above .500.

Brewers 7, Twins 2

MINNEAPOLIS – Jeff Liefer homered for the first time since July 30th and tied a career high with four RBIs to lead the Milwaukee Brewers over the Minnesota Twins 7-2 Saturday night.

Victor Santos won for the fourth time in five starts and Lyle Overbay drove in two runs with his major league-leading 30th double to help Milwaukee snap a three-game losing streak.

Liefer, who entered the game hitless in his previous nine at-bats, went 2-for-3.

Jacque Jones hit a two-run single for the Twins, whose three-game winning streak ended.

Pirates 1, Reds 0

CINCINNATI – Randall Simon hit his first home run of the season in the top of the ninth inning, and the Pittsburgh Pirates snapped the Cincinnati Reds’ three-game winning streak with a 1-0 victory Saturday night.

Simon hit the first pitch from Todd Jones (5-2) into the right-field bleachers, giving the Pirates their second win in nine games.

Mark Corey (1-1) pitched a perfect eighth for the win. Jose Mesa pitched the ninth for his 17th save in as many tries to set a team record for consecutive saves in a season without a blown save.

Tigers 7, Diamondbacks 6

DETROIT – Eric Munson homered leading off the ninth inning to give the Detroit Tigers a 7-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night.

Carlos Guillen also homered and drove in four runs for Detroit, and Omar Infante added a solo shot as the Tigers handed Arizona its eighth straight loss.

Munson drove a pitch from Brandon Villafuerte (0-1) an estimated 457 feet over the center field fence for his ninth home run of the season. It was the longest home run in Comerica Park history.

Ugueth Urbina (3-2) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.

Indians 4, Rockies 3

CLEVELAND – Ben Broussard lined a game-winning double in the 12th inning to give the Cleveland Indians a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night.

The Indians lost ace C.C. Sabathia, who left with a sore shoulder after retiring the side in the first on only eight pitches. Sabathia was taken for an MRI.

Jody Gerut singled with one out off former Indians reliever Steve Reed (1-2), who was the winner Friday night when Colorado prevailed 10-8 in 10 innings.

Cardinals 3, Royals 1

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Edgar Renteria’s RBI single drove in the tiebreaking run in the 10th inning and lifted the St. Louis Cardinals past the Kansas City Royals 3-1 on Saturday night.

Rudy Seanez walked Albert Pujols leading off the 10th. Then, Pujols, who leads the NL with 65 runs, stole second and scored his second run of the night on Renteria’s second RBI hit.

Mike Matheny made it 3-1 with an RBI single – his third hit of the night – with two outs.

Julian Tavarez (2-0) got the win with one inning of shutout relief, and Jason Isringhausen pitched the 10th for his 17th save in 21 chances.