Mueller's two grand slams make history

ARLINGTON, Texas Boston's Bill Mueller became the first player in major league history to hit grand slams from both sides of the plate in a game, connecting for three homers to lead the Red Sox over the Texas Rangers 14-7 Tuesday night.

Mueller, batting left-handed, hit a solo homer in the third inning against R.A. Dickey.

Batting right-handed, he hit his first slam off Aaron Fultz in the seventh for a 9-4 lead. One inning later, he connected from the left side against Jay Powell for a 14-4 advantage.

Mueller had a career-high nine RBIs with the first three-homer game of his career. He has 13 homers this season, also a career best, and four career slams.

It was the 12th time a player hit two grand slams in a game, the first since Boston's Nomar Garciaparra against Seattle on May 10, 1999.

Orioles 7, Twins 5

MINNEAPOLIS Jay Gibbons homered and drove in three runs and Tony Batista also hit a home run in Baltimore's victory over Minnesota.

Gibbons hit a two-run shot in the first, a run-scoring single in the sixth and was at the plate when the Orioles took the lead on a wild pitch in the eighth.

Devil Rays 9, Blue Jays 8

TORONTO Rocco Baldelli hit a go-ahead two-run single in the ninth inning as Tampa Bay rallied for a victory over Toronto. Travis Lee and Aubrey Huff homered for the Devil Rays, who rallied from 4-0 and 7-6 deficits.

White Sox 9, Royals 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. Mark Buehrle won his seventh straight decision as Chicago closed within three games of the AL Central leader.

Paul Konerko, Joe Crede, Tony Graffanino and Magglio Ordonez homered for the White Sox, who tied a season high with 16 hits in the opener of the three-game series.

Mariners 11, Tigers 5

SEATTLE Edgar Martinez, Bret Boone and John Olerud hit home runs, and Gil Meche ended a personal four-game losing streak for Seattle.

Boone went 3-for-4 and had four RBIs, while Martinez and Olerud each had three RBIs for the AL West-leading Mariners, who bounced back after losing two in a row at home to Texas.

Athletics 6, Indians 2

OAKLAND, Calif. Mark Mulder had 11 strikeouts while pitching into the eighth inning for Oakland.

Ramon Hernandez had a two-run double in the seventh as the A's scored five late runs to avoid wasting another sterling start from Mulder (14-7), who joined Toronto's Roy Halladay and Baltimore's Sidney Ponson as the AL's 14-game winners.

Yankees 6, Angels 2

ANAHEIM, Calif. The Yankees bounced back from their bruising weekend series in Boston by winning the opener of their West Coast trip and trading unhappy Raul Mondesi.

Andy Pettitte (13-6) won his career-high eighth straight decision, and Hideki Matsui went 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs.

Robin Ventura and Jorge Posada each drove in two runs for New York, which maintained its 1 1/2-game lead over Boston in the AL East. Last weekend, the Red Sox cut the gap by taking two of three from New York.

Mondesi angrily left the Yankees' clubhouse at Fenway Park on Sunday night after manager Joe Torre pinch hit for him in the eighth inning and missed the team's charter flight to California.

During the game, New York traded him to Arizona for outfielder David Dellucci and two minor leaguers.