NEW YORK - Andy Pettitte pitched eight fantastic innings to win his fourth straight start and Jason Giambi homered twice, helping the New York Yankees get back on track with a 6-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.

Andy Phillips hit a two-run double and Alex Rodriguez had an RBI double for the Yankees, who had lost three straight after winning nine of 10. Joe Torre earned his 2,041st victory as a manager, passing Walter Alston for sole possession of eighth place on the career list.

New York moved within five games of first-place Boston in the AL East. The Red Sox split a doubleheader with the Los Angeles Angels.

Gary Sheffield was booed even louder in his second game back at Yankee Stadium for the Tigers, who fell out of first place in the AL Central, a half-game behind Cleveland.

Giambi hit two solo shots, one in the fourth inning off Nate Robertson (7-10) and a drive deep into the right-field upper deck in the eighth against Aquilino Lopez.

The slugger has 11 homers this season, four since returning from a foot injury. His big performance came one day after commissioner Bud Selig announced he won't punish Giambi because of his charitable work and cooperation with baseball's steroids investigator.

It was Giambi's first multihomer game since Aug. 20 last year at Boston, and the 35th of his career.

The Yankees and Detroit rank 1-2 in runs - far ahead of everyone else in the majors - but Pettitte (10-7) tamed the Tigers all night. Throwing heavy cutters and sliders on a damp evening, the left-hander allowed one run and five hits. He struck out five and walked one.

Pettitte has won six of seven decisions since the All-Star break. He is 4-0 with a 2.25 ERA in August.

With the sellout crowd of 54,290 chanting his name, rookie sensation Joba Chamberlain threw several 99 mph fastballs and finished the six-hitter.

Phillips finished with three hits, while Bobby Abreu added three soft singles and a stolen base.

The Tigers made a bold move before the game in the middle of a tense pennant race, calling up touted prospect Cameron Maybin and cutting slumping outfielder Craig Monroe - a key member of their World Series team last season.

The 20-year-old Maybin, with only six games of experience at Double-A, was brought up with a shot to play regularly. Considered one of the best prospects in baseball, he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in his major league debut while batting second and playing a shaky, though errorless, left field.

After rain delayed the start for 74 minutes, Brandon Inge put Detroit ahead with an RBI double in the third inning. He was nearly thrown out on the bases, but scampered safely back to second when the Yankees messed up a relay play.

New York caught a big break in the bottom half. With two on and two outs, Abreu hit a routine grounder to shortstop that took a bad hop and skipped over Carlos Guillen for an RBI single. Rodriguez followed with a ground-rule double off Robertson to give the Yankees the lead.

Phillips added a two-run double in the sixth to make it 5-1.

Robertson allowed 10 hits over six innings and dropped to 1-5 against the Yankees. He hasn't beaten them since July 18, 2004.

Notes: All-Star 2B Placido Polanco missed his fourth consecutive game because of the flu that has hit several Tigers. Ryan Raburn started at second base again. ... Sheffield is 0-for-7 in the series. ... Monroe was designated for assignment. ... Yankees LF Hideki Matsui extended his hitting streak to 12 games. ... Rain forced both teams to take batting practice indoors. ... Maybin struck out on three pitches in his first at-bat. ... The Yankees are 24-8 against AL Central teams.