New York ? Even Ruben Sierra figured his shot would go foul.

Yet in a twist of the Yankees’ fortune, Sierra’s drive smacked down squarely on the left-field line for a pinch-hit double, highlighting a six-run rally in the eighth inning that sent slumping New York over the Oakland Athletics, 10-8, Tuesday night.

“For a minute, I thought the ball was going to hook outside,” Sierra said. “I saw the ball was turning to the line.”

Sierra paused for a moment to watch, then took off after chalk kicked up near the corner. The go-ahead, two-run hit came after a sloppy, frustrating game in which most everything seemed go against the Yankees.

Trailing 8-4 and in danger of their fifth straight defeat, the defending AL champions suddenly broke loose and handed Oakland its fourth loss in a row.

Yankees starter Mike Mussina failed to hold an early lead and was looking at a clubhouse television when the comeback began with a couple of soft singles and a pair of walks. He still wasn’t sure when the ball left Sierra’s bat.

“Before that, it would’ve been a foot foul, the way we were going,” he said.

Bernie Williams started the rally with a single that ended his 0-for-13 rut and capped it with an RBI grounder. Sierra, batting for Miguel Cairo, put the Yankees ahead 9-8 with his bases-loaded double off Ricardo Rincon that somehow stayed fair.

A crowd of 33,191 that had booed Derek Jeter — he was hitless in three at-bats, extending his career-worst slump to 0-for-28 — cheered wildly when Sierra came through.

“Hopefully, it does relax them,” manager Joe Torre said. “It was a good way to win, coming back late with a lot of people contributing.”

Donovan Osborne (1-0) recorded one out for the victory.

Twins 7, Blue Jays 4

Minneapolis — Jacque Jones hit a three-run homer with one out in the ninth inning, lifting Minnesota over Toronto. Torii Hunter tied it with an RBI single one batter before Jones sent a 1-2 pitch from Justin Speier into the left-field seats for his team-leading fourth home run of the season.

New York's Gary Sheffield, left, and Jorge Posada congratulate each other after they scored on a double by Ruben Sierra. The Yankees defeated Oakland, 10-8, Tuesday night in New York.

Shannon Stewart led off the ninth with a single on a hard grounder that third baseman Chris Gomez couldn’t handle. He advanced to third on Doug Mientkiewicz’s single to right and scored two batters later when Hunter singled up the middle to make it 4-all.

Indians 11, White Sox 7, 10 Innings

Chicago — Casey Blake hit a go-ahead RBI double in the 10th inning, and Omar Vizquel had four hits and drove in two runs to lead Cleveland over Chicago. After striking out Matt Lawton to start the 10th, Jon Adkins (2-1) gave up back-to-back singles to Vizquel and Jody Gerut. Blake followed with double off the left-field wall, scoring Vizquel to make it 8-7.

Angels 10, Tigers 4

Detroit — Darin Erstad hit a three-run double, and Troy Glaus had two RBIs to help Anaheim win its fifth straight game. John Lackey earned his first win of the season. Glaus tripled, doubled and singled, and Vladimir Guerrero also had three hits. Brandon Inge hit his second grand slam in less than a week for the Tigers.

Mariners 7, Orioles 5

Baltimore — Dan Wilson homered in the fourth inning and then drove in the tiebreaking run in the seventh, and Seattle snapped a five-game losing streak by beating Baltimore. John Olerud had three of Seattle’s 13 hits, and the Mariners improved to 1-11 when allowing five or more runs in a game.