MLB ROUNDUP \ Thursday’s games

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Yankees 3, Red Sox 2

NEW YORK — Jason Giambi came off the bench to hit a tying homer in the seventh inning and the winning single in the ninth for the Yankees. Desperate to get back in the playoff race, New York salvaged the finale of a three-game series and won Boston’s final regular-season game at Yankee Stadium. Mariano Rivera (5-5) entered a tie game in the eighth and pitched 11‚Ñ3 hitless innings for the win, helping the Yankees overcome another poor performance by Alex Rodriguez.

Rays 3, Blue Jays 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Edwin Jackson took a shutout into the eighth inning, Cliff Floyd and Willy Aybar each homered and the Rays guaranteed they will finish no worse than .500 for the first time in franchise history. Tampa Bay, 81-51 and an AL-best 49-19 at home, is 11-0-1 in series play since the All-Star break.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Cubs 6, Phillies 4

CHICAGO — Aramis Ramirez’s grand slam capped a five-run eighth inning, and the Cubs won their sixth straight game in dramatic fashion. The surging Cubs moved to 34 games over .500. Ramirez sent the roaring 40,362 fans at Wrigley Field into a tizzy when he drove reliever Chad Durbin’s pitch into the center field bleachers to complete the comeback.

Astros 3, Reds 2

HOUSTON — Ty Wigginton homered twice off Aaron Harang, Brandon Backe was sharp into the seventh and the Astros beat the Reds. Humberto Quintero added a solo shot to help the Astros beat the Reds for the 10th time in 12 meetings this season.

Nationals 11, Dodgers 2

WASHINGTON — Cristian Guzman hit for the cycle and Elijah Dukes had two home runs, helping the Nationals to an romp. Guzman finished the cycle with an RBI triple in the eighth inning off reliever Joe Beimel. He’s the second Washington player to hit for the cycle after Brad Wilkerson did it on April 6, 2005.

Braves 4, Marlins 2

ATLANTA — Brian McCann hit a three-run homer, Charlie Morton finally figured out how to pitch at home and the Braves beat the slumping Marlins. The Marlins are 10-15 in August, haven’t won two games in a row this month and fell six games behind the idle New York Mets in the NL East.

Associated Press