Howard, Phillies pull within 4 of Mets

Ryan Howard's 2-run home run off Guillermo Mota in the 10th inning capped a late rally and led the Philadelphia Phillies to a 4-2 win over the visiting New York Mets on Tuesday night.

Shane Victorino, who scored the tying run in the eighth on a pair of bizarre plays, opened the 10th with a bloop single off Mota (1-1). Then Howard hit a 1-2 pitch deep the opposite way into the left-field seats for his 35th homer, giving the Phillies wins in the first two games of this pivotal four-game series.

Brett Myers (3-5) pitched 2 scoreless innings to earn the win. The Phillies now trail the NL East-leading Mets by 4 games.

The Mets took a 2-0 lead into the eighth behind 7 shutout innings from Tom Glavine.

But the Phillies rallied for 2 runs against New York's bullpen, including Jimmy Rollins' solo homer off Pedro Feliciano.

Carlos Delgado gave the Mets a 2-0 lead with his 2-run shot off Adam Eaton in the second. It was Delgado's 19th homer this season and No. 426 of his career, tying him with Billy Williams for 38th place on the career list.

Marlins 4, Braves 3 (11): Alejandro De Aza's 11th-inning sacrifice fly gave Florida a win in a game in which visiting Atlanta struck out 19 times.

Braves starter John Smoltz fell behind early, but the Braves rallied on Chipper Jones' 2-run homer in the eighth, tying the game at 3-3.

In the 11th, Oscar Villarreal (2-2) walked Alfredo Amezaga with one out and Jeremy Hermida moved Amezaga to third with a double off the left-center field scoreboard. Villarreal intentionally walked Matt Treanor, loading the bases for De Aza, who flied to right to score Amezega.

Atlanta remained 6 games behind the NL East-leading Mets.

Byung-Hyun Kim (6-3) pitched a 1-hit 11th for the win.

Pirates 6-3, Reds 4-2: Freddy Sanchez drove in 5 runs in the opener, then tripled and scored the winning run in the eighth inning of the second game to give host Pittsburgh a doubleheader sweep that slowed previously surging Cincinnati.

The Reds had won six in a row and nine of 11, only to be swept by Pittsburgh in a doubleheader for the first time since September 2000. The Pirates have won 10 of 13 and are 17-10 in August, their most wins in a month since they had the same record in May 2004.

Sanchez tied a career high with 5 RBI and hit his second career grand slam as the Pirates won the opener 6-4. Sanchez also had a run-scoring single to help the Pirates hold off the Reds, who stranded 13 runners in the first game and 21 in the two games.

The Reds had made up 10½ games in the standings since July 2 under interim manager Pete Mackanin, closing within 6½ of the NL Central-leading Cubs going into the doubleheader, but they dropped to 8 back as the Cubs beat Milwaukee 5-3.

American League

Indians 6, Twins 5: Jake Westbrook got his fourth win of August, rookie Asdrubal Cabrera drove in the go-ahead run, and host Cleveland kept a tight grip on the AL Central lead.

Travis Hafner hit a 2-run homer off Boof Bonser (6-11) and Grady Sizemore added a solo shot for the Indians, who have won four straight and are 9-3 since Aug. 15 -- the day Cabrera replaced Josh Barfield in the starting lineup.

Jason Tyner had 4 hits for the Twins, who fell 7½ games behind division-leading Cleveland.

Westbrook (5-7) allowed 3 runs -- all in the fifth -- and 10 hits in 6¿ innings. The right-hander, who spent six weeks on the disabled list and began the season 1-6, went 4-1 this month with 1.90 ERA.

Royals 6, Tigers 3: Needing a win to keep pace in the AL Central, Detroit ran into a familiar nemesis: Kansas City.

Brian Bannister won for the sixth time in 7 decisions, Alex Gordon hit a 3-run double, and Kansas City beat visiting Detroit.

Detroit dropped 3½ games behind division-leading Cleveland, the Tigers' biggest deficit in their division since before play on June 6. The lowly Royals are 5-8 against Detroit this season after taking three in a row from the Tigers on the final weekend of last season -- costing Detroit first place and forcing the Tigers into the wild-card berth.

Bannister (11-7) leads AL rookies with a 3.27 ERA and his victories are the most by a Royals rookie starter since Kevin Appier won 12 games in 1990.

Nate Robertson (7-11) gave up 6 runs, 6 hits and 4 walks in 4½ innings, his shortest outing since June 5. Robertson is 1-5 in his past eight starts.

Magglio Ordonez went 4-for-5 and is hitting .404 in August.

Yankees 5, Red Sox 3: Johnny Damon hit a tiebreaking homer against his former team, and Andy Pettitte won his sixth straight start, halting another Yankees slide in a 5-3 victory over visiting Boston.

Derek Jeter also homered and Jorge Posada hit an RBI double for the Yankees, who moved to 7 games back of Boston in the AL East.

Pettitte (12-7) allowed 3 runs and 6 hits in 7 innings, improving to 8-1 in 10 starts since the all-star break.

Manny Ramirez and Jason Varitek homered for the Red Sox, who had won four straight -- all blowouts at the White Sox.

Matsuzaka (13-11) lost his third consecutive start, allowing 5 runs and 6 hits in 6½ innings.

Devil Rays 15, Orioles 8: Tampa Bay scored 11 eighth-inning runs during another embarrassing performance by Baltimore's bullpen, and the host Orioles wasted 6 home runs in their seventh straight loss.

The Devil Rays trailed 6-3 before sending 15 batters to the plate in the eighth. Nine got hits, three walked, and seven different players drove in runs -- including 2 apiece by Greg Norton, Carlos Pena, Dioner Navarro and Jonny Gomes.

The Orioles' bullpen has a 22.29 ERA during the losing streak. Baltimore has been outscored 84-28 over the last seven games.

Miguel Tejada homered twice for Baltimore, which tied a club record for home runs in a home game. Nick Markakis, Aubrey Huff, Kevin Millar and Ramon Hernandez also connected.

Jim Hoey (1-3) took the loss.

Scott Dohmann (3-0) worked the seventh to help Tampa Bay end a nine-game losing streak at Camden Yards.