Yankees Power Past the A’s, 7-3

Derek Jeter homered on the first pitch of the game, Mark Bellhorn also connected and Hideki Matsui had a run-scoring triple, and the New York Yankees took an important series from the Athletics with a 7-3 victory Sunday night at Oakland.

Shawn Chacon pitched 6 2/3 effective innings to win for the fourth time in five starts, staked to an early lead thanks to New York’s suddenly potent offense.

Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada each hit run-scoring singles in the third, and the Yankees built a quick 4-1 lead against Barry Zito, then scored two more in the fourth on three consecutive hits: a leadoff double by Jeter, Matsui’s triple and a run-scoring single by Gary Sheffield.

The Yankees moved one game ahead of Oakland in the wild-card race, and the A’s fell a game behind the first-place Angels in the West after all three teams began the day with 76-59 records.

Chacon (4-2) gave the Yankees another solid pitching effort a day after Aaron Small started in place of the injured Mike Mussina and pitched a shutout. Chacon, whose three-game winning streak ended Tuesday at Seattle, yielded two runs and five hits.

Zito was chased after 3 1/3 innings to match his shortest outing of the year, which had occurred April 9 at Tampa Bay. He gave up six earned runs and nine hits, struck out three and walked three.

Zito (12-11) was 9-2 with a 2.17 earned-run average over his previous 14 starts, including an impressive nine-inning effort in the A’s 2-1, 11-inning win over the Angels on Tuesday.

Zito is 2-7 in 13 starts against the Yankees, his lowest winning percentage against any team he has faced at least twice.

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Boston 5, Baltimore 1 -- David Wells pitched a complete game in his return from a six-game suspension, and John Olerud hit a three-run homer during a five-run fifth inning at Fenway Park.

Wells (12-6), who yielded seven hits, retired his last 12 batters. For the seventh time in eight games, he issued no walks.

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Chicago 2, Detroit 0 -- Jon Garland got his 17th win on his fifth try, and the White Sox completed a sweep of the four-game series at Chicago.

After losing three decisions in a row, Garland (17-8) yielded four hits in his third complete game of the season, all shutouts.

Garland walked one and struck out seven, including Chris Shelton with a runner at third to end the eighth.

He outpitched Jeremy Bonderman (14-12), who lost his third consecutive start despite yielding only five hits in his fourth complete game this season.

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Kansas City 17, Texas 8 -- Angel Berroa hit a three-run homer and drove in five runs to help the Royals avoid a four-game sweep at Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas City had 18 hits, including three home runs and five doubles, in its highest-scoring game of the season. The victory was only the sixth in 34 games for the Royals, who have the worst record (44-91) in the majors.

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Tampa Bay 1, Toronto 0 -- Rookie Scott Kazmir and two relievers combined on a four-hitter at Toronto. Toby Hall drove in the lone run with a sacrifice fly in the second inning. Kazmir (8-9) gave up four hits, struck out nine and walked one in seven innings.

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Minnesota 7, Cleveland 5 -- Shannon Stewart drove in the go-ahead run with a sixth-inning single, and Mike Redmond delivered a three-run double in the seventh, leading the Twins at Minneapolis.