CHICAGO — Manager Ozzie Guillen reversed the question as soon as it was asked. Where would the Chicago White Sox be without Carlos Quentin?

"He's played great for us. He's gotten big hits and shown a lot of people out there," Guillen said. "At the same time, where would Quentin be without us?"

Maybe still trying to find his way with the Arizona Diamondbacks where he dealt with injuries and lost his starting job a year ago before being traded to the White Sox in the offseason.

Quentin has been the biggest surprise for the White Sox the first three months of the season and he delivered again yesterday, leading off the bottom of the seventh with a tiebreaking homer in a 6-5 win over the Cubs.

Quentin drove an 0-2 pitch from Carlos Marmol (1-3) for an opposite-field home run into the Cubs' bullpen in right field — his 18th of the season — to snap the 5-5 tie.

"I've been thankful to the White Sox for giving me an opportunity to get me on the field and play. Knowing that when I was traded over here that I'd have to earn it, I welcome that because that's how it should be," Quentin said.

Derrek Lee was 5 for 5 with three RBIs for the Cubs, who've lost seven of 11. He led off the top of the ninth with a double and moved to third on an infield out.

But Lee was stranded when closer Bobby Jenks got Aramis Ramirez to ground to short with the infield in and retired Jim Edmonds on a grounder to second to end the game.

"It's not fun right now, but we're going to bounce back. We're good a team. We are going to get healthy. We will be all right," Lee said. Lefty Scott Eyre became the fourth key player to go on the DL yesterday, joining Carlos Zambrano, Alfonso Soriano and Reed Johnson.

Jermaine Dye and Alexei Ramirez also homered for the White Sox, who were swept last weekend by the Cubs but have rebounded and won four of five.

Matt Thornton (4-1), the third of five White Sox's relievers, pitched 1 2/3 perfect innings, striking out four of the five batters he faced to get the win. Jenks' save was his 18th in 21 chances.

With Lee on third in the ninth, the White Sox decided to pitch to Ramirez, even though he hit four homers against them last weekend at Wrigley Field.

"I'm not a guy who likes to put people on base when you have a chance to lose a game in this ballpark, no matter who the hitter is," Guillen said.

Yankees 3, Mets 2: Andy Pettitte (9-5) allowed only solo homers to Ramon Castro and David Wright in six neat innings to outpitch Johan Santana (7-7) for his sixth straight win, leading the Yankees past the Mets at rainy Shea Stadium and a 3-2 lead in the Subway Series this season.

Brewers 5, Twins 1: Manny Parra (8-2) allowed two hits in seven innings to win his sixth straight start, Bill Hall had a two-run double and Ryan Braun and Corey Hart also had RBIs as visiting Milwaukee ended Minnesota's 10-game winning streak, all against National League teams.

Tigers 7, Rockies 6: Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run double in the bottom of the ninth and Detroit overcame Todd Jones' blown save to beat Colorado, which scored three runs in the top of the ninth, for its fourth straight victory.

Astros 11, Red Sox 10: Mark Loretta hit a three-run homer, Carlos Lee added a solo shot and a two-run double, and Lance Berkman atoned for three strikeouts with a two-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning for an 11-9 lead as Houston beat Boston for the first time in five all-time meetings.

Blue Jays 9, Braves 5: Vernon Wells homered and drove in three runs, Rod Barajas hit a solo homer and Joe Inglett had two RBIs as host Toronto pounded Tim Hudson (8-6) for six runs and seven hits in five-plus innings to beat Atlanta.

Reds 5, Indians 0: Rookie Johnny Cueto (6-8) spaced five hits, walked three and hit two batters over 6 1/3 innings to team with four relievers on an eight-hitter, and Paul Bako snapped out of an 0-for-15 slump with a three-run double as visiting Cincinnati beat Cleveland.

Cardinals 5, Royals 1: Rick Ankiel hit his 15th homer of the season, a two-run shot for a 4-0 lead in the sixth inning and rookie Mitchell Boggs (3-0) allowed only four hits and one run in six innings to help host St. Louis snap Kansas City's six-game winning streak.

Phillies 8, Rangers 6: Chase Utley and Ryan Howard hit 400-foot homers in the third inning off Vicente Padilla (10-4), and Cole Hammels (8-5) gave up four runs and six hit over seven innings as visiting Philadelphia held on to beat Texas its their second win in 10 games.

Orioles 9, Nationals 1: Luke Scott and Ramon Hernandez homered, Adam Jones had four hits, and visiting Baltimore cruised past Washington in a game delayed by rain for 63 minutes. The matchup drew the biggest gathering at Nationals Park (39,479) since the $611 million stadium opened March 31.

Mariners 4, Padres 2: Adrian Beltre had three hits and two RBIs, and Carlos Silva (4-9) allowed two runs on eight hits in seven innings to win for the first time in 13 starts spanning nearly 2 1/2 months as visiting Seattle beat former teammate Cha Seung Baek and San Diego.

Giants 1, Athletics 0: Tim Lincecum (9-1) scattered five hits over seven innings and struck out 11, and Randy Winn's grounder to first baseman Daric Barton was bobbled for an error allowing Fred Lewis to score from third base in the fourth inning as visiting San Francisco beat Oakland for the first time in seven games.

Pirates 4, Rays 3: Jason Bay homered off Jason Hammel (3-3) with two outs in the bottom of the 13th inning to to help Pittsburgh stop Tampa Bay's four-game winning streak. John Van Benschoten (1-2), who was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis before the game, pitched a scoreless inning of relief to pick up the victory.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Diamondbacks 6, Marlins 2: Brandon Webb (12-4), the 2006 Cy Young Award winner, gave up two runs on five hits with eight strikeouts in six-plus innings, and Chris Young had three RBIs as visiting Arizona beat Florida for the first time in five tries this season. Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla, who began the day leading the majors with 23 homers, left the game in the fourth because of a left ankle sprain.