New York ? Joe Torre made it clear he expects his New York Yankees to play with more heart.

They got the message.

One day after getting no-hit for the first time in 45 years, the Yankees bounced back against the same Houston bullpen that shut them down. Alfonso Soriano hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning, and New York took advantage of a big error by Jeff Bagwell to rally past the Astros, 6-5, Thursday.

“It was very important to win the game today,” Soriano said. “Everybody knows the Yankees fight until the end.”

Torre held a team meeting after Wednesday night’s 8-0 loss, and the Yankees responded by showing some championship grit.

“I wouldn’t say it was a must win, but when Joe was as vocal as he was last night, everyone wanted to step it up a notch today,” catcher John Flaherty said. “The tone was set last night after the game. If you didn’t wake up today to play, there’s something wrong with you.”

New York took two of three in the first series between the teams. Roger Clemens makes his fourth bid for his 300th victory tonight against the St. Louis Cardinals — he’s been stuck at 299 for three weeks.

Houston took a 5-3 lead in the sixth on Adam Everett’s two-run double off David Wells. But this time, the Yankees were able to get some big hits against the Houston bullpen.

Juan Rivera’s RBI single off Kirk Saarloos, who got four outs Wednesday night, cut it to 5-4 in the sixth. Raul Mondesi singled off Brad Lidge, who threw two innings in the no-hitter, with two outs in the seventh to tie it at 5.

New York's Alfonso Soriano connects for a tiebreaking single against Houston. The Yankees rebounded from being no-hit for a 6-5 victory Thursday over the Astros in New York.

“I thought the intensity level was a lot better today,” Derek Jeter said. “Hopefully, when the season’s over with we can look back and say this was the turning point — but only time will tell.”

Six Houston pitchers combined on the no-hitter, the first against the Yankees in 6,980 games — the longest streak in big league history. Hoyt Wilhelm was the last pitcher to no-hit New York, with a 1-0 victory for Baltimore on Sept. 20, 1958.

It was also the most pitchers ever to combine on a no-hitter in the majors — four had twice done it.

The lifeless effort figured to draw the ire of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who was in Torre’s office for about a half-hour before the game.

“We discussed some things,” Torre said. “That’s about all I’m going to say.

“There’s no question he has the right to say what he wants and do what he wants. But I don’t think there was any way I could have felt worse about that game.”

Hideki Matsui led off the eighth with a dribbler to first, but Bagwell stumbled and booted the ball.

“I was letting it go, at the last minute I thought it was going to hit the bag and I just kind of panicked,” he said. “I just flat out fumbled it. I don’t have an excuse.”

Cardinals 8, Red Sox 7 (13)

Boston — Jim Edmonds hit an opposite-field, three-run homer in the 13th inning as St. Louis beat Boston after wasting a pair of late leads. Edmonds also had a solo homer and Edgar Renteria went 5-for-6 for the Cardinals, who took two of three from the Red Sox in the first meeting between the teams since St. Louis won the 1967 World Series 4-3.

Nomar Garciaparra hit a tying triple in the ninth inning and a tying single in the 10th inning. Kerry Robinson singled off Ramiro Mendoza (1-3) in the 13th, and Miguel Cairo sacrificed. Albert Pujols was intentionally walked one out later, and Edmonds homered high into the seats above the Green Monster in left for an 8-5 lead.

Giants 8, White Sox 4

Chicago — Barry Bonds hit a tying two-run homer in the ninth and Rich Aurilia had a pinch-hit grand slam later in the inning to rally San Francisco past Chicago. Bartolo Colon (6-6) struck out Bonds in his first three at-bats and took a three-hitter into the ninth.

Ray Durham singled leading off the inning, and Bonds hit the next pitch for his 631st home run, his 18th this season. He also homered Wednesday night.

Dodgers 3, Tigers 2

Detroit — Kazuhisa Ishii allowed two runs over seven innings and Paul Lo Duca drove in the go-ahead run with a fifth-inning single as Los Angeles completed a three-game sweep of Detroit. Lo Duca extended his hitting streak to 20 games as the Dodgers handed the Tigers their second straight sweep in interleague play.

Orioles 6, Cubs 1

Baltimore — Melvin Mora homered and drove in three runs, and Rick Helling shrugged off two rain delays to pitch five shutout innings as Baltimore beat Chicago. B.J. Surhoff also homered and Brook Fordyce had three hits for the Orioles, who built a 5-0 lead after three innings in salvaging the finale of the three-game series. Mora had a sacrifice fly and a run-scoring groundout before extending his hitting streak to 23 games in the seventh with a solo shot off Kyle Farnsworth.

Twins 15, Rockies 3

Minneapolis — A.J. Pierzynski hit a grand slam in the first inning and added a three-run shot in the seventh, leading Minnesota past Colorado. Pierzynski hit his second career grand slam, had his first multihomer game and finished 3-for-4. His grand slam came on a 0-1 pitch from Darren Oliver (3-5) with Minnesota already leading 3-0.

Mariners 1, Expos 0

Seattle — Ryan Franklin and Arthur Rhodes combined on a five-hitter, and Bret Boone hit his 18th homer of the season as Seattle salvaged the finale of a series with Montrea. Franklin (5-4) and Rhodes helped end a four-game home losing streak by the Mariners.

Braves 4, Athletics 2

Oakland, Calif. — Gary Sheffield and Andruw Jones each homered and Shane Reynolds took a three-hit shutout into the seventh inning as Atlanta defeated Oakland. Barry Zito (7-5), last year’s AL Cy Young Award winner, didn’t make many mistakes but still dropped his first interleague game in eight starts as the A’s lost their third consecutive series for the first time in nearly a year.

Mets 11, Rangers 0

Arlington, Texas — Vance Wilson homered and drove in five runs and Al Leiter pitched six shutout innings as New York defeated Texas. Leiter, Graeme Lloyd and John Franco combined for New York’s third shutout of the season. The Rangers had 11 hits, but left 14 men on base while being shut out for the third time. The Mets had season highs for runs and hits (16). Rookie Ty Wigginton went 4-for-5 with three RBIs.

Blue Jays 5, Pirates 4

Toronto — Mark Hendrickson won for the first time in almost a month and Toronto completed a three-game sweep of Pittsburgh. Carlos Delgado increased his major league-leading RBI total to 74 with a two-run single for the Blue Jays, who won their fourth straight to move seven games over .500 for the first time since May 7, 2001.

Reds 2, Devil Rays 1

St. Petersburg, Fla. — Austin Kearns stole home and homered and Ryan Dempster allowed one run over 71/3 innings as Cincinnati completed a three-game sweep of Tampa Bay. Dempster (2-4) allowed four hits in his second start since spending 15 days on the disabled list with a neck injury.

Padres 9, Indians 4

Cleveland — Jake Peavy earned his first win since April 25 as home runs by Rondell White and Ryan Klesko helped rally San Diego past Cleveland. Trailing 3-0 after four innings, the Padres scored four runs in the fifth and five in the sixth to help Peavy (5-5) and avoid being swept.