Pettitte leads Yanks to win; Red Sox keep rolling

Andy Pettitte and the New York Yankees, on occasion, still look very much like contenders.

The Boston Red Sox have been looking that way for awhile.

Hideki Matsui hit a grand slam on his 34th birthday, and Pettitte bounced back from one of the worst starts of his career to move into a tie for fourth place on the Yankees' career wins list with a 4-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Thursday night.

Pettitte gave up a career high-tying 10 runs last Saturday against Kansas City, but allowed one run and five hits in a season-high eight innings in this one. He tied Ron Guidry with his 170th victory with New York.

Meanwhile, Mike Lowell hit his second grand slam of the season, J.D. Drew hit a two-run shot and Boston returned a bit of normalcy to the AL East with a 9-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles that moved the Red Sox 2 1/2 games ahead of Tampa Bay in the division.