The New York Yankees took a break from their search for reliable pitching to beat someone who used to provide it for them.

Mike Mussina outpitched former teammate Orlando Hernandez, and Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run homer that sent the Yankees to a 3-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Monday night.

Hernandez gave up three runs and four hits in six innings. During two stints with the Yankees from 1998-04, he was 61-40 in the regular season and 9-3 with a 2.65 ERA in the postseason.

"I put him up there with Mo (Mariano Rivera) as one of the greatest competitors that I've ever played against," Rodriguez said. "It's kind of weird seeing him in a different uniform."

The Yankees could use another pitcher like El Duque in a year when injuries have forced them to use 13 starters, their most since 1991. That number could increase Thursday if Randy Johnson is forced to miss his start because of a bad back.

Johnson had an MRI on Monday that revealed inflammation of the lumbar spine, and another injured starter, Carl Pavano, was in Alabama to have his shoulder examined by Dr. James Andrews.

Hernandez (8-5) wasn't concerned with his old friends, or their problems.

"They are not my teammates anymore. My teammates are the ones here with me, the Chicago White Sox. It's another team now," Hernandez said. "I wanted this victory, like all of them. I don't like to lose."

The game at Yankee Stadium was the first meeting this season between New York and the White Sox, who have the majors' best record at 72-39. The Yankees (60-50) moved 10 games over .500 for the first time this year.

"We did a lot of good things tonight. It was just a complete, clean ballgame for us," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "You're curious when you haven't faced a team that has a record like they do, to see how you match up to them. It makes you feel a little better about yourself."

Mussina (11-7) allowed two runs and eight hits, striking out seven and walking none. Tanyon Sturtze and Tom Gordon each worked a scoreless inning before Rivera finished for his career-best 30th consecutive save.

"Today was the way we drew it up," Mussina said.

Aaron Rowand made superb catches in center field on the first two New York batters, but Gary Sheffield walked before Rodriguez hit his AL-leading 32nd homer and second in two games.

The Yankees got another run in the second on Derek Jeter's run-scoring groundout, but nothing else against Hernandez.

"You knew Duque is going to bend but not break," Torre said. "He didn't give us much, but he walked a couple of guys. That was vintage Duque."

Rowand doubled in a run and scored for the White Sox, who send Jose Contreras - another former Yankee - to the mound Tuesday.

At Boston, Tony Graffanino had three hits and showed rare power with a three-run homer in a game between baseball's two highest-scoring teams.Graffanino, batting eighth, went 3-for-3 - capped by the homer that made it 8-5 in the fifth - and even was walked intentionally.Jeremi Gonzalez (2-1) pitched 2 2-3 scoreless innings in relief of Wade Miller as Boston won for the 10th time in 12 games. Steve Karsay (0-1) allowed four runs in two innings in his second appearance for Texas.Boston entered the game with a major league-leading 609 runs, and Texas had 608.

Vance Wilson hit a go-ahead single in the 12th inning off Scott Schoeneweis (2-3) and visiting Detroit ended a three-game losing streak.Vic Darensbourg (1-0) pitched 1 1-3 innings for the win, and Craig Dingman got the last two outs of the 12th for his second save.Alex Rios homered and had a career-high five hits for the Blue Jays.

Jesse Crain walked Jeremy Reed with the bases loaded in the eighth inning to push across the tiebreaking run for host Seattle.George Sherrill (1-0) got the victory by getting two outs in the eighth. Eddie Guardado pitched the ninth for his 26th consecutive save and his 27th in 28 opportunities.Carlos Silva (7-6) took the loss as the Twins fell 71/2 games back in the AL wild-card race.

The St. Louis Cardinals' lineup didn't look so potent with Scott Rolen and Larry Walker on the DL and Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds getting nothing to hit.The Cardinals' unheralded hitters, however, came through for the second straight game, leading St. Louis to an 8-4 over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.With Pujols and Edmonds drawing three walks each, Mark Grudzielanek homered and drove in a career-high five runs, Abraham Nunez had three hits, including the go-ahead single in the eighth and So Taguchi added two hits and two RBIs in addition to two outstanding plays in right."It's a complete team," said Matt Morris, who failed to join the 100-win club but was cheerful nonetheless after the Cardinals (71-41) went 30 games above .500 for the first time this season.

Brandon Claussen (7-8) allowed two hits in seven scoreless innings and Ken Griffey Jr. hit a three-run homer as visiting Cincinnati handed Chicago its sixth straight loss.Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns also homered for the Reds. Javier Valentin drove in three runs, including two with a bases-loaded double off Chicago starter Jerome Williams (3-5) in the second.The Cubs fell to 27-27 at Wrigley Field and are 61/2 games behind Houston in the NL wild-card race.

<B>Rockies 5, Marlins 3</b>At Denver, Danny Ardoin hit a tiebreaking two-run homer, Byung-Hyun Kim (3-8) won for the first time in seven starts, and Colorado completed a doubleheader sweep.Ryan Shealy went 3-for-3 and drove in a run in the second game and was 5-for-8 with two RBIs in the doubleheader.Ismael Valdez (1-1), who was 3-0 in his previous three starts against Colorado, allowed five runs and 10 hits in six innings.In the first game, Dustan Mohr homered with two outs in the 11th inning off Valerio De Los Santos (1-1). Scott Dohman (1-1) pitched two scoreless innings to earn his first major league win.According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Sunny Kim and Byung-Hyun Kim became the first players with the same last name to start both games of a doubleheader for a team since brothers Gaylord and Jim Perry of Cleveland did it on June 22, 1974, at Boston.