Baseball: Matsui hits 1st homer of season

New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui homered for his first hit after a comeback from injury and went 2-for-4 with two RBIs in a game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Tuesday.

Matsui had a leadoff shot for his first homer this season to the stands in right off lefty Scott Kazmir in the second inning and singled home New York's final run in the eighth in a 6-4 defeat that sent the Yankees spiraling to their fifth loss in a row.

''It (the home run ball) was an easy pitch to hit that came up the middle,'' said Matsui, who went hitless a day earlier playing in his first game since returning from a hamstring injury sustained April 7. ''I was satisfied with my swing.''

Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead in the fourth before Matsui, who reached on a pitcher's error in the seventh, scored the tying run all the way from first on Jorge Posada's double to right-center.

The Yankees went ahead 3-2 the same frame on a Josh Phelps two-out RBI single but Carl Crawford's first career grand slam in the bottom half sank the Yankees.

In other action, Chicago White Sox infielder Tadahito Iguchi went 0-for-5 in a 9-7 win over the Kansas City Royals.

Iguchi grounded out three times, struck out looking and flied out to second. St. Louis Cardinals outfielder So Taguchi came in as a defensive replacement in right but did not get an at-bat in his team's 10-3 defeat to the Cincinnati Reds.