NEW YORK — Brett Gardner was visiting with a young girl at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital yesterday, when she gave him a bracelet.

"She told me that if I kept it, I would hit a home run," he said. "She said I'll hit a home run tonight. She said as long as I have it, I'll hit a home run every at-bat, which we all know is not going to happen."

On an strange night when Alex Rodriguez played his first game at the new Yankee Stadium, Gardner hit an unusual home run to spark a late-innings Yankees comeback.

Gardner had the first inside-the-park homer in the ballpark's young history, then tripled to start a three-run ninth inning that carried the Yankees over the Minnesota Twins, 5-4, and stopped a five-game home losing streak. Melky Cabrera capped the rally against Joe Nathan (1-1) with a two-run, bases-loaded single.

"It was probably more likely for me to hit an inside-the-parker than it was to hit once over the fence, so I'm glad I could do that for her," Gardner said. "Hopefully, she was watching, it made her smile a little bit. If not, hopefully she can see the replay and it makes her happy."

Gardner, who won the center-field job in spring training and then lost it last month to Cabrera, wasn't even in the starting lineup. He entered in the fourth after Johnny Damon was called out on strikes for the second time by umpire Wally Bell, then was ejected for drawing a line on the inside part of the plate with his bat.

Gardner was 3 for 3, falling a double short of the cycle. On the homer, he circled the bases on a looper down the left-field line that took a topspin bounce away from Denard Span.

"At first I thought I could catch it, and then I slowed up and tried to keep it to a single, and then it shot the other way," Span said.

Gardner didn't remember the girl's name but said he recalled her face. He kept the bracelet in his locker.

"I'll take it with me everywhere I go," he said.

RAYS 8, INDIANS 7

Ben Zobrist led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo homer that made it 7-all and B.J. Upton led off the ninth with his first homer on a 3-2 pitch from Luis Vizcaino as Tampa Bay rallied from a 7-0 deficit to beat Cleveland.

RANGERS 10, ANGELS 8

Ian Kinsler and Andruw Jones hit two-run homers in a span of four pitches in the third off Joe Saunders (5-2), and Kinsler added a solo shot, his 11th of the season, with one out in the sixth to make it 7-2 as host Texas beat Los Angeles for its fifth straight victory.

BLUE JAYS 8, WHITE SOX 3

Aaron Hill hit a two-run homer, rookie Brett Cecil (2-0) allowed three runs and six hits in six innings and host Toronto beat Chicago for the seventh straight time at home.

TIGERS 14, ATHLETICS 1

Ryan Raburn and Brandon Inge each hit grand slams and drove in five runs, and host Detroit routed Oakland in a game that was delayed 61 minutes by rain at the start, and 73 minutes at the end of the fourth.

MARINERS 5, RED SOX 4

Ichiro Suzuki hit a solo shot in the fifth inning, then sparked a four-run sixth with a two-run shot, helping host Seattle rally from a four-run deficit to beat Boston, playing without a benched David Ortiz.

ROYALS 8, ORIOLES 1

Zack Greinke (7-1) gve up a run on six hits in seven innings, Miguel Olivo hit a three-run homer and host Kansas City took a 6-1 lead by the fourth inning to end a six-game losing streak with a victory over Baltimore.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

PHILLIES 10, NATIONALS 6

Raul Ibanez delivered a two-run single for his fourth hit of the game after Kip Wells (0-1), Washington's eighth pitcher, walked the bases loaded in the top of the 12th, and Philadelphia tacked on insurance runs with Pedro Feliz's RBI double and catcher Wil Nieves' throwing error on a double steal.Braves 4, Diamondbacks 3: Yunel Escobar hit a one-out sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the bottom of ninth, lifting Atlanta over Arizona, which tied the game in the top of the inning when Stephen Drew led off with a homer off Braves closer Mike Gonzalez (2-0).

DODGERS 6, MARLINS 4

Juan Pierre hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the top off the seventh inning, and Los Angeles rallied from a three-run deficit hours after suspended Manny Ramirez apologized to his teammates. Florida lost its fifth in a row.

ROCKIES 3, PIRATES 1

Brad Hawpe hit a two-run homer and pinch-hitter Matt Murton added a run-scoring single to cap a three-run top of the ninth inning off Matt Capps (0-3), helping Colorado beat Pittsburgh.

PADRES 5, REDS 3

Adrian Gonzalez homered in his fifth straight game, a solo shot in the first inning off Aaron Harang (3-4) for his major league-leading 15th of the season, and San Diego rallied with a three-run bottom of the seventh to snap a six-game losing streak.

METS 8, GIANTS 6

Gary Sheffield scored the go-ahead run on San Francisco closer Brian Wilson's throwing error in the top of the ninth inning, and David Wright then scored on Omir Santos' sacrifice fly as New York rallied from an early four-run deficit for its 10th victory in 12 games.

NOTES

Cardinals: St. Louis right-hander Chris Carpenter felt fine after throwing an extended bullpen session yesterday and could return to the rotation soon. Carpenter, who strained a muscle in his left rib cage April 14, is scheduled for another bullpen session on Tuesday and could return either next Friday or Saturday against the Kansas City Royals.

Mariners: Struggling Brandon Morrow, who blew saves in each of the last two games of Seattle's last road trip, when the team went 1-7, was removed from the closer role. Manager Don Wakamatsu says David Aardsma will lead a rotation of relievers who will finish games based on specific situations.

Mets: New York manager Jerry Manuel thinks slugging first baseman Carlos Delgado probably is headed to the disabled list soon. Manuel expects the Mets to make a decision today on Delgado missed his fifth straight game last night with a sore right hip after hurting himself sliding last month.