Chicago ? On the heels of two straight frustrating losses at Tampa Bay, the New York Yankees needed a lift. Mike Mussina provided it.

Mussina pitched seven strong innings, allowing five singles, and New York beat the slumping Chicago White Sox, 3-1, sending the AL Central leaders to their season-worst sixth straight loss.

“Two tough games down in Tampa and it was good to come out and win this game,” Mussina said after getting his team-best 12th victory.

New York is behind in both the AL East and wild-card races in a season that Mussina said had featured plenty of unexpected turns and twists. And there still are six weeks to go.

“This has been a strange year for a lot of reasons. We’ve had some big injuries, and we were up and down very drastically the first half of the season,” he said.

“We’ve had a lot of tough losses, a lot of tough stretches.”

Mussina (12-7) got stronger after escaping the first inning when the White Sox had three singles and scored their only run. He walked one and struck out seven while allowing four base-runners after the opening inning.

“I didn’t think the first inning was that bad. They fisted a couple of ball into the outfield,” Mussina said. “After that, I made some good pitches.”

Tom Gordon pitched the eighth, and Mariano Rivera worked a perfect ninth for his 33rd save in 37 chances. The Yankees closer had blown two of his last three saves, since converting 31 straight.

Red Sox 4, Angels 3, 10 innings

Anaheim, Calif. – Manny Ramirez drove in the go-ahead run on a groundout with the bases loaded in the 10th inning, leading Boston over Los Angeles.

Gabe Kapler and Johnny Damon opened the 10th with singles against Scot Shields (8-9). Roberto Petagine, who replaced David Ortiz as designated hitter when he was ejected in the eighth inning, walked to load the bases. Ramirez hit a slow bouncer to third baseman Chone Figgins, whose only play was to first base.

Curt Schilling (5-5) pitched two perfect innings for the victory, striking out four.

Twins 7, Mariners 4

Minneapolis – Lew Ford hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the seventh inning, Carlos Silva won for the first time since July 4, and Minnesota rallied past Seattle for its sixth straight victory.

Joe Mauer also homered and drove in two runs for Minnesota, which has won nine of 10. Jeremy Reed connected for the Mariners.

With the score tied at 4 and two outs in the seventh, Ford hit a 1-0 pitch from Jeff Nelson into the left-field seats. It was the first three-run homer for the Twins since July 2.

Silva (8-6) allowed four runs – three earned – and eight hits in seven innings.

Indians 5, Orioles 4, 10 innings

Cleveland – Ben Broussard homered leading off the 10th inning, and Cleveland kept pace in the AL wild-card chase with a victory over Baltimore.

Broussard, who had a signing engagement after the game at the House of Blues to promote his new CD, drove a 1-1 pitch from Steve Kline (2-4) over the right-field wall to cap the Indians’ comeback.

Cleveland was down 4-1 in the eighth but tied it on Casey Blake’s three-run homer.

Tigers 9, Blue Jays 5

Detroit – Carlos Pena hit two long homers and drove in three runs in his first game back from the minors, sending Detroit past Toronto. Dmitri Young, Chris Shelton and Ivan Rodriguez also connected as Detroit hit a season-high five homers to win for the fifth time in six games. Young and Shelton each drove in two runs.

Vernon Wells and Eric Hinske homered for Toronto.

Tigers starter Mike Maroth (11-11) got the win. He allowed four runs and 10 hits in 62â3 innings, walking one and striking out six.

Craig Dingman retired Wells with two on for his third save.

David Bush (2-7) lasted only 22â3 innings. He gave up four runs, two earned, and five hits.

Devil Rays 2, Rangers 1

St. Petersburg, Fla. – Seth McClung allowed one run and three hits in seven innings, leading Tampa Bay past Texas. McClung (4-7) struck out five and walked one as the Devil Rays improved to 21-12 since the All-Star break.

Joe Borowski ran his scoreless stretch to 161â3 innings with a perfect eighth before Danys Baez got three outs for his 27th save in 34 opportunities.