The Associated Press

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 one game, and connected for three homers overall 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 RBI 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 one game, and the first since Boston's Nomar Garciaparra did it against Seattle on May 10, 1999.

Mueller had his second multihomer game of the season and the third of his career. He hit two homers against the New York Yankees on July 4, connecting from each side of the plate.

Devil Rays 9, Blue Jays 8

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

Toronto's Carlos Delgado hit his AL-leading 31st homer of the season in the ninth, cutting the lead to 9-8. The Blue Jays' Greg Myers homered twice - giving him a career-high 12 - and tied a career high with five RBI.

White Sox 9, Royals 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Mark Buehrle won his seventh straight decision as Chicago cut Kansas City's Central Division lead to three games.

Paul Konerko, Joe Crede, Tony Graffanino and Magglio Ordonez homered for the White Sox, who tied a season high with 16 hits. Ordonez, Graffanino, Crede and Paul Konerko each had three hits.

Orioles 7, Twins 5

MINNEAPOLIS - Jay Gibbons homered and drove in three runs and Tony Batista also hit a home run for Baltimore.

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.

Hector Carrasco (1-2) pitched 1 1/3 innings, allowing two hits and one run. Jorge Julio worked the ninth for his 24th save of the season.

Luis Rivas, who went 2-for-4 with three RBI, hit a two-run homer in the third for Minnesota, which lost its third straight game.

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.

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.

Meche (11-7), who hadn't won since June 26, pitched six innings and allowed three runs on seven hits and three walks, with four strikeouts. He gave up solo homers to Dmitri Young, his career-high 22nd, and Kevin Witt.

Bobby Higginson homered off Julio Mateo in the eighth for the Tigers, whose record fell to 28-76, worst in the majors by far.

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.

Mulder finished one strikeout shy of his career-high, allowing seven hits and retiring 14 of 15 at one point. He also was four outs shy of what would have been his major league-leading eighth complete game, but Keith Foulke finished up for his 27th save in 31 chances.

Milton Bradley homered for Cleveland before getting ejected in the eighth inning for vociferously arguing a called third strike.