St. Petersburg, Fla. ? Rocco Baldelli and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have broken out of early-season slides.

Baldelli hit a go-ahead, three-run homer, and reliever John Halama threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings to lead the Devil Rays over the Minnesota Twins, 5-4, Thursday.

Baldelli’s first homer since May 2 overcame a 4-2 deficit in the fourth, and Tampa Bay went on to win for the sixth time in seven games. His drive hit a catwalk support pole approximately 125 feet above the field. Baldelli has hits in eight straight games and 13 of his last 14.

“Winning is more fun,” Baldelli said. “We’re beating good teams now. To come and win a series against a team like this is huge.”

Baldelli is hitting .296, up from .195 on April 18.

“He’s been swinging the bat very well,” Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella said. “I think he tried to put on some muscle over the winter, get a little bigger. Now he’s taken 12 pounds or so off, and he’s hitting. He’s started to drive it.”

Halama (1-1) entered in the fourth and gave up two hits. Jorge Sosa didn’t allow a run over 1 2/3 innings, and Danys Baez pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save in seven chances.

Tampa Bay’s bullpen has allowed one run over its past 35 2/3 innings.

“You start winning these close ballgames, these are the bigger confidence builders,” Piniella said.

Corey Koskie and Jacque Jones homered for Minnesota. Carlos Silva (5-3) lost his third consecutive start, giving up five runs and 11 hits in six innings. He has given up 17 runs and 29 hits over his last three starts, lasting a combined 13 innings.

Tampa Bay's Rocco Baldelli connects for a three-run home run against Minnesota. The Devil Rays defeated the Twins, 5-4, Thursday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

“It was a disappointing ballgame for us,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “That’s a game I feel like we should have won. I thought we had a lot of poor at-bats as the game went along.”

Yankees 18, Orioles 5

Baltimore — Alex Rodriguez homered and Hideki Matsui had two hits during an eight-run fifth inning, and New York hammered Baltimore to complete a three-game sweep. Enrique Wilson homered and drove in four runs, and Tony Clark also had four RBIs for the Yankees.

White Sox 9, Rangers 0

Chicago — Mark Buehrle scattered nine hits over seven innings, and Juan Uribe homered twice as Chicago blanked Texas for the second straight game. Buehrle (5-1) won his fourth straight start and once again got big run support.

Athletics 15 Red Sox 2

Boston — Eric Chavez and Scott Hatteberg homered to lead Oakland’s best offensive game of the season. Mark Mulder (6-2) had his streak of three complete games snapped, allowing two runs on four hits and issuing a career-high seven walks in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out four.

Indians 9, Mariners 5

Cleveland — Jake Westbrook was spotted a big lead and Cleveland’s brutal bullpen didn’t give it all back as the Indians beat Seattle, ending their season-high losing streak at seven. Westbrook (4-2) managed to make it through five innings, allowing four runs and seven hits. He then turned it over to Cleveland’s relievers, already responsible for 14 losses and 11 blown saves.

Blue Jays 3, Angels 2

Toronto — Roy Halladay took a three-hit shutout into the ninth inning, and Toronto completed a three-game sweep of Anaheim. Halladay (5-4) outpitched Jarrod Washburn, who failed in his attempt to become the majors’ first eight-game winner. Halladay, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, gave up two unearned runs and four hits.