Derek Jeter sparked the slumping Yankees on Tuesday, hitting a leadoff homer to send New York to an 11-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox and snapping a five-game skid.

　　Andy Pettitte (5-5) ended a four-start losing streak, and Robin Ventura and Todd Zeile also homered for the Yankees, who had lost eight straight games and 12 of 13 at home.

　　Pettitte held Nomar Garciaparra hitless in three at-bats and allowed only two runs and five hits in 7 2-3 innings to snap the longest losing streak of his career.

　　Pettitte left to a standing ovation after retiring the first two batters in the eighth inning. Antonio Osuna came in and retired Garciaparra, ending his hitting streak at a major league-high 26 games.

　　Jeter hit the fifth pitch of the game from Bruce Chen (0-1) into the left-field seats to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

　　New York cut Boston's lead in the American League East to 1 1/2 games.

　　In St Petersburg, Florida, Rafael Palmeiro hit his 503rd home run, and Mark Teixeira and Juan Gonzalez also homered for Texas as the Rangers beat Devil Rays 4-2.

　　Palmeiro homered for the third time in four games, hitting his 13th of the season in the second inning off right-hander Carlos Reyes (0-1) to move within one home run of Hall of Famer Eddie Murray for 18th on the career list.

　　In Detroit, Omar Vizquel stole home with the bases loaded in the eighth inning, scoring the go-ahead run for Cleveland as the Indians demolished the Tigers 5-2.

　　With two outs, Vizquel broke for the plate and was most of the way home before left-hander Steve Avery realized what was happening.

　　In Toronto, Roy Halladay won his sixth straight start by pitching his first complete game of the season as Toronto whipped Chicago 5-1 for its sixth successive win.

　　Elsewhere, it was, Orioles 12, Angels 4; Twins 4, Athletics 3; and Mariners 15, Royals 7.

　　In the National League, Larry Walker drove in four runs, helping the Colorado Rockies snap the Los Angeles Dodgers' 10-game winning streak, 7-3 on Tuesday.

　　The Rockies tagged Japan's Kazuhisa Ishii (4-2) for five runs in the first inning, including Walker's two-run triple and a key error by first baseman Fred McGriff.

　　In Atlanta, Chipper Jones led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a homer to give Atlanta a 3-2 victory over Cincinnati. Jones hit a 1-0 pitch from Chris Reitsma (3-2) into the left-field seats as the teams went to extra innings for the second successive day.

　　Cincinnati lost for the first time in 10 games this season when tied after eight innings.

　　In Philadelphia, Al Leiter pitched six shutout innings and Jeromy Burnitz hit a two-run homer to lead New York 4-2 over Philadelphia. The Mets have won four of their past six games, including three straight against the Phillies. Philadelphia has dropped five of six.

　　In Chicago, Kenny Lofton extended his hitting streak to 25 games, and Aramis Ramirez had four hits as Pittsburgh beat Chicago 9-4. Ramirez finished 4-for-5 with an RBI, four days after getting four hits against St Louis.

　　In other action, it was, Astros 7, Cardinals 4; Brewers 4, Padres 2; Giants 4, and Diamondbacks 3, 13 innings.