Robinson Cano walked and was sacrificed to second before Brett Gardner also walked. Thames, activated off the DL earlier in the day, received a postgame curtain call from what remained of the Independence Day crowd of 46,810.
The Yankees appeared to have a come-from-behind win all gift-wrapped for owner George Steinbrenner’s 80th birthday, but Mariano Rivera blew a save for the second time this season.
DeWayne Wise hit a tying single off Rivera in the ninth and flubbed a catch to let the Yankees tie it on Gardner’s inside-the-park homer. Wise hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the fifth.
David Robertson (1-3) struck out Jose Molina to end the top of the 10th with a runner on third.
David Purcey (0-2) gave up the winning hit.
At Boston, Brian Matusz pitched shutout ball for seven innings and the Baltimore Orioles picked up just their third win in 20 games at Fenway Park.
Kevin Youkilis homered for the Red Sox, who lost for only the fifth time in 17 games.
Matusz (3-9) held the Red Sox to two hits — in the third and fourth innings — walked three and stuck out seven in earning his first win since April 18. He had lost his last nine decisions.
John Lackey (9-4) gave up for runs — three earned — in 7 1-3 innings. He struck out seven and walked one.
At Cleveland, Vin Mazzaro pitched into the eighth inning and upstaged Cleveland All-Star Fausto Carmona .
Mazarro (4-2) won his second straight start, allowing just the one run on seven hits in 7 1-3 innings. He tied the longest outing of his career set in June 2009 against Baltimore.
Andrew Bailey worked the ninth for his 17th save.
Adam Rosales hit his sixth homer to give Oakland a 3-1 lead in the seventh off Carmona (7-7), who was picked to the AL All-Star team for the first time. It was the first home run allowed by Cleveland in 61 innings overall and the first given up at home in 83 innings since June 15.
At Detroit, Russell Branyan and Casey Kotchman each hit a three-run homer, All-Star Cliff Lee fell an inning short of another complete game and Seattle beat the Tigers.
Lee, who had been trying to match the longest streak in the big leagues since Roy Halladay completed four games in a row in April 2008, allowed one run on nine hits and a walk in eight innings.
Lee (8-3) threw 111 pitches and matched a career high with 11 strikeouts in improving to 7-1 in his last nine starts.
Kotchman, on the other hand, has been more selective with his big moments. He has hit three of his four home runs this season against Detroit.
At Minneapolis, Evan Longoria had three hits and three RBIs, and Sean Rodriguez homered among his three hits, leading Tampa Bay.
Longoria’s two-run single highlighted a five-run seventh inning for the Rays, who won their first series in nearly a month. Tampa Bay starter James Shields (7-8) earned his first win in eight starts, pitching six innings while allowing four runs and eight hits.
B.J. Upton also had three hits for the Rays. Rafael Soriano finished with his 21st save.
Minnesota’s Justin Morneau had two hits and an RBI.
Nick Blackburn (7-6) went six innings. He allowed seven runs — four earned — and nine hits.
At Arlington, Texas, Alexei Ramirez hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the sixth inning to lead the Chicago White Sox over the Texas Rangers.
Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin hit back-to-back doubles in the sixth to tie it at 3 for Chicago. Two outs later, Ramirez lined a homer off starter Scott Feldman (5-8).
Mark Buehrle (7-7) won for the fourth time in five starts to even his record for the first time since April 21. He allowed three runs — including homers by Josh Hamilton and Julio Borbon — and five hits over seven innings to improve his career record against Texas to 12-5.
Matt Thornton , who earned his first All-Star berth, got three outs for his fifth save.
At Anaheim, California, Torii Hunter celebrated his fourth career All-Star selection with two homers and tied a career high with seven RBIs to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a rout of the Kansas City Royals.
Joel Pineiro (9-6) won his sixth straight start with seven solid innings, and Paul McAnulty added a two-run homer in his Angels debut to help Los Angeles avoid a sweep. This series marks the 78th in a row at home in which the Angels have not been swept, the longest stretch by any team since the Atlanta Braves’ streak of 84 ended with a four-game sweep by Arizona June 1-4, 2006.
Anthony Lerew (1-2) took the loss.
