NEW YORK — Jose Contreras' streak of winning decisions came full circle and ended against the team and pitcher it started against.

Melky Cabrera's RBI single put the Yankees in front during a three-run eighth inning and New York hung on to beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-5, yesterday, snapping Contreras' run at 17 wins.

Contreras (9-1) hadn't lost since dropping a 4-2 decision to Minnesota last Aug. 15. The streak started six days later when he pitched eight innings in a 6-2 victory over Randy Johnson and the Yankees, his former team.

"I would've liked the streak to continue but I wasn't really thinking about it," Contreras said through an interpreter. "I felt very good today. I had all my pitches going and I felt strong."

Kyle Farnsworth (3-4) pitched a perfect eighth, and Mariano Rivera worked the ninth for his 20th save in 22 chances. Rivera allowed two runs before he got pinch-hitter A.J. Pierzynski to fly out to right with a runner on third to end it.

"The last one was really the only one I had a chance to do anything with," Pierzynski said of the 10-pitch at-bat. "The thing about Mariano is you wait for him to miss and he doesn't miss."

Contreras allowed Alex Rodriguez's leadoff single in the eighth before he was relieved by Matt Thornton, who gave up a single to Jorge Posada and walked Bernie Williams to load the bases.

Brandon McCarthy came in and struck out pinch-hitter Andy Phillips before White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen replaced him with Neal Cotts. Cabrera then hit an 0-1 pitch from Cotts to center to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead.

Miguel Cairo added a sacrifice fly, and Johnny Damon an RBI double in the inning for the Yankees.

"The eighth inning was great," said Joe Torre, who picked up his 1,927th win as a manager to pass Casey Stengel for 10th place on baseball's career list. "We were very patient at the plate. We did some good things and hopefully we can build this into something."

Contreras, traded by the Yankees to Chicago two years ago, allowed four runs on seven hits. Johnson allowed three runs and four hits in seven innings.

"I hadn't pitched in eight days so it took me a little while to get going," Johnson said. "I got some big outs and was able to shut a good team down."

Rangers 2, Orioles 1: Kevin Millwood (9-5) allowed one run and four hits in six innings, three relievers finished up the three-hitter and Michael Young and Mark Teixeira hit fourth-inning sacrifice flies to lift visiting Texas over Baltimore.

Mariners 5, Blue Jays 3: Gil Meche (9-4) won his fifth straight decision, allowing three runs and six hits, while striking out five and walking one in six innings, and Adrian Beltre drove in two runs to lead visiting Seattle past Toronto.

Athletics 15, Red Sox 3: Mark Ellis drove in five runs, Milton Bradley had three RBIs, Barry Zito (9-6) allowed two runs on six hits in five-plus innings, and visiting Oakland broke open the game with eight unearned runs in the eighth inning to beat Boston.

Tigers 10, Royals 9: Carlos Guillen drove a 1-2 pitch from Jeremy Affeldt (4-6) down the line and over the left-field fence for his 11th homer with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning as Detroit overcame an early 4-0 deficit to beat Kansas City for the 10th straight time this season.

Twins 3, Indians 2: Torii Hunter singled with one out off Edward Mujica (0-1), advanced to third on a single by Jason Kubel, and scored on Jason Tyner's single to right field in the bottom of the 10th inning as Minnesota beat Cleveland.

Angels 4, Devil Rays 0: John Lackey (8-5) pitched a five-hitter for his second consecutive shutout and his fourth straight victory, and Vladimir Guerrero led off the bottom of the sixth inning against Jae Seo (0-3) with his 19th homer of the season to lead Los Angeles over Tampa Bay.