Game by game and homer by homer, Jason Giambi is pushing an embarrassing steroids scandal a little further in the background.

Giambi homered for the third straight game and 20-year-old Melky Cabrera singled in his major league debut Thursday night, helping the New York Yankees extend their winning streak to five games with a 7-2 victory over visiting Cleveland.

Giambi, who all but said during a February news conference that he told a federal grand jury in 2003 he had used performance-enhancing drugs, has four home runs, two doubles and a single in his last 10 at-bats. He has raised his batting average to .274, the highest it's been since he went 1-for-2 in the season opener.

"I've worked hard to get to this point," Giambi said. "I'm finally feeling good physically. ... We're clicking pretty good offensively, we're playing great defense, our pitching is really coming around. Hopefully, we're all starting to come together."

He hit his ninth homer leading off the second and had an RBI single in the sixth.

"He's feeling pretty good about himself right now," Yankees manager Joe Torre said.

New York improved to 44-39 and moved within 31/2 games of Boston, the closest the Yankees have been to the AL East lead since the morning of April 23.

Second-place Baltimore beat the Red Sox 3-1 on Thursday night in a game in a game called after six innings because of rain. The Orioles are three games back.

At Baltimore, Eli Marrero and Melvin Mora hit solo home runs, and Sammy Sosa added his first RBI since June 19, leading the Orioles past David Wells and the Red Sox.Daniel Cabrera (7-7) pitched five innings to help the Orioles win for the third time in 12 games. Wells (6-5) gave up three runs and five hits in six innings.Earlier in the day, the Red Sox acquired Alex Cora from Cleveland for Ramon Vazquez. Cora played shortstop and went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in place of Johnny Damon, sidelined by a sore shoulder.

At St. Petersburg, Fla., Magglio Ordonez homered for the third time since coming off the disabled list a week ago, helping Detroit win its third straight and extend the Devil Rays' losing streak to a season-high nine games.Ordonez hit a two-run homer off New York's Randy Johnson in his first game off the disabled list last Friday night and homered again Tuesday night in Cleveland. He was 0-for-10 in three games for the Tigers before going on the DL with a hernia on April 13.Chris Shelton added a two-run homer off Seth McClung (0-5) to back Sean Douglass (2-0), who allowed three runs and five hits in five innings. Troy Percival pitched the ninth for his eighth save.

At Anaheim, Calif., Joel Pineiro (3-4) threw a six-hitter to win for the first time in 12 starts, and Adrian Beltre and Jeremy Reed hit three-run doubles for Seattle.All-Star Bartolo Colon (11-5) lost for only the second time in nine decisions, allowing a season-high seven runs and seven hits in six innings.Randy Winn homered for Seattle, and Josh Paul connected for Anaheim.

At Toronto, Vernon Wells hit a three-run homer in the fifth to help the Blue Jays take two of three from the A's and improve to 6-2 in their last eight games.Wells hit his 17th home run off Rich Harden (5-4), giving Toronto a 3-2 lead. Wells also hit a three-run homer in Toronto's 8-0 victory Wednesday night.Gustavo Chacin (7-5) won for the first time since June 6, a span of seven starts.Eric Byrnes hit a two-run homer for Oakland, which lost for just the fourth time in 18 games.

At Kansas City, Mo., Angel Berroa was 4-for-5 with two RBIs, and Jose Lima (2-8) won for the second time in 18 starts, leading the Royals to their third straight win.Berroa is 11-for-18 and has hit in five straight games since manager Buddy Bell lowered the slumping shortstop in the batting order. Berroa had an RBI single in the seventh to reach base for the eighth straight plate appearance.Nick Punto homered for the Twins. Kyle Lohse (7-7) took the loss.

By the time their series in Atlanta was over, Derrek Lee's shoulder wasn't the Chicago Cubs' only concern.Their playoff hopes are hurting, too.The Cubs have lost eight in a row for the first time in three years after getting swept by the Braves in a doubleheader Thursday. Chicago got a poor start from Mark Prior in the opener, bad bullpen work in the second game, and limped out of Turner Field after scoring just five runs in four games."It wasn't pleasant in a lot of ways," Chicago manager Dusty Baker said. "It was a tough day, a tough trip."And it may not get better too quickly. The Cubs move on to Florida, where they are set to face Dontrelle Willis (13-3) in Friday night's series opener. A loss in that game would give Chicago its first nine-game skid since May 8-18, 2002.The Cubs were poised to end their losing streak when they had a 4-3 lead against another All-Star, John Smoltz, after seven innings in the nightcap. But Andruw Jones hit his major league-leading 27th homer and rookie Jeff Francoeur added a three-run shot in a six-run eighth inning as the Braves rallied for a 9-4 victory.Prior (5-3) couldn't make it through the fifth inning in the opener, yielding six runs and seven hits in 4 2-3 innings of a 6-0 loss.

At Washington, Mike Piazza drove in the go-ahead run with a single off Luis Ayala (7-5) in the 11th, and the Nationals lost a series at home for the first time since April.Heath Bell (1-3) pitched two innings for his first major league victory, and Braden Looper got his 20th save.

At Phoenix, Luis Gonzalez led off the ninth inning with a home run off Ray King (2-2), enabling Arizona to salvage the finale of a four-game series.The Diamondbacks snapped a six-game home losing streak after St. Louis manager Tony La Russa's ninth-inning gamble failed. John Mabry, 3-for-4 for the Cardinals, led off the ninth with a single and was on third with two outs when La Russa let starter Jason Marquis bat. He struck out against reliever Lance Cormier (4-0).

At Miami, Carlos Delgado hit a pinch-hit grand slam to cap Florida's six-run fifth inning.Brian Moehler (4-6) allowed three runs and four hits in five innings.Four of Florida's runs in the fifth off Victor Santos (2-9) were unearned because of an error by first baseman Lyle Overbay.

At Denver, Todd Helton broke the franchise record for home runs with a shot to the upper deck at Coors Field, then broke a tie an inning later with a three-run homer.Mike DeJean (4-1) pitched a scoreless inning, and Brian Fuentes got his 11th save. Giovanni Carrara (6-3) lost in relief of Los Angeles starter Derek Lowe.

At Houston, Ramon Hernandez capped a six-run fifth inning with a two-run single in his first game back from the disabled list, and San Diego ended a three-game losing streak.Woody Williams (5-5) allowed two runs and five hits in five innings for his third consecutive win, and Trevor Hoffman earned his 24th save.Wandy Rodriguez (4-4) last just 4 1-3 innings. Morgan Ensberg and Craig Biggio homered for Houston, which had won four in a row.

At San Francisco, Mike Matheny hit a three-run homer and an RBI double, and Brett Tomko (6-10) won in his return to the Giants' rotation.Matheny hit his career-high ninth homer in the fifth off Aaron Harang (4-8). The catcher also matched his career high with four RBIs.