Arlington, Texas ? Justin Morneau says he enjoys hitting at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, and the numbers back him up.

Morneau homered for the third time in two games and Boof Bonser won his third straight start, leading the Minnesota Twins over the Texas Rangers 5-3 on Wednesday.

Morneau hit his 14th homer of the season, a solo drive in the third on an inside fastball off Robinson Tejeda (4-4) to give Minnesota a 3-1 lead. For the series, Morneau went 5-for-13 with three homers and seven RBIs. In the last two seasons at the Rangers’ stadium, he is 14-for-36 (.389) with six homers.

“I like playing here,” Morneau said. “The ball carries pretty well here. The wind seems always to be blowing the ball out to right-center. You just have to square it up and it’s got a good chance to go out.”

Sammy Sosa pinch hit for Texas with two on and two outs in the ninth and struck out, giving Joe Nathan his ninth save.

Yankees 8, Red Sox 3

New York – Andy Pettitte pitched seven vigorous innings and Hideki Matsui hit one of two homers off an ineffective Curt Schilling to lead New York.

Mariners 5, Devil Rays 1

St. Petersburg, Fla. – Jose Guillen had four hits and two RBIs, Miguel Batista gave up one run in six innings and Seattle handed Tampa Bay its fifth straight loss.

Orioles 5, Blue Jays 2

Baltimore – Corey Patterson stole home at the end of a botched rundown, Brian Roberts went 3-for-3 with two walks, and Baltimore beat Toronto.

Tigers 8, Angels 7

Detroit – Magglio Ordonez had his 20th two-homer game and Detroit held on to snap Los Angeles’ six-game winning streak.

Bartolo Colon (5-1) allowed six runs and 10 hits in 41â3 innings, giving up two homers.

Athletics 4, White Sox 0

Chicago – Chad Gaudin threw seven-plus scoreless innings, Hiram Bocachica hit his first home run in almost three seasons and Oakland ended a three-game losing streak.

National League

Mets 3, Braves 0

Atlanta – Oliver Perez pitched seven strong innings, David Wright hit his fourth homer in the last four games for New York.

The first-place Mets increased their lead over Atlanta in the NL East to 21â2 games.

Nationals 12, Reds 7

Cincinnati – Ryan Church returned to Washington’s lineup with a pair of homers and a career-high six RBIs, keeping the Nationals on their offensive tear.

The Nationals hit a season-high four homers during their biggest run splurge in more than a year. Brian Schneider and Ryan Zimmerman also homered.

Cardinals 5, Pirates 3

St. Louis – Kip Wells ended a seven-game losing streak with seven strong innings and was backed by three home runs, a rare power display by St. Louis.

Rockies 2, Diamondbacks 0

Phoenix – Colorado’s Jeff Francis allowed five singles in seven innings to improve to 7-1 lifetime against Arizona, and 4-0 at Chase Field.

Padres 2, Cubs 1

San Diego – Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a 2-0 pitch from Sean Marshall (0-1) an estimated 438 feet into the second deck to put San Diego ahead for good.

Giants 9, Astros 1

San Francisco – Bengie Molina had four RBIs to help Barry Zito bounce back from an awful outing for the Giants.

Dodgers 5, Brewers 1

Los Angeles – Brad Penny stranded six runners in scoring position and Russell Martin tied a career high with four RBIs for Los Angeles.