Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Rookie Evan Longoria hit home runs in his first two postseason at-bats as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Chicago White Sox 6-4, while Shane Victorino hit a grand slam in Philadelphia's 5-2 win over Milwaukee.

Longoria gave the American League East-champion Rays a 1-0 lead in their Major League Baseball playoff opener with a homer in the second inning off White Sox pitcher Javier Vasquez at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Tampa Bay scored three runs in the bottom of the third to regain the lead after Chicago took a 3-1 lead in the top of the inning on a three-run homer by Dewayne Wise. Longoria capped the rally with another solo homer that snapped a 3-3 tie.

The last Major League Baseball player to homer in his first two career playoff at-bats was Minnesota's Gary Gaetti in 1987. Longoria, 22, was second on the team with 27 homers during the regular season even though he started the year in the minor leagues and also missed more than a month with a wrist injury.

He added a run-scoring single during the fifth inning as the Rays tacked on two more runs to win their major league- leading 58th home game of the season.

Home Advantage

``We have such an advantage at home,'' Longoria said in a televised interview. ``For us to take Game 1 is huge.''

It was the first playoff game in the 11-year history of the Rays franchise. Tampa Bay never had a winning record before this season and finished last in the AL East nine times.

Tampa Bay, after losing 101 games last season, had a 97-65 record this year. The Rays will host Game 2 of the best-of-five first-round series tomorrow.

James Shields picked up the win for the Rays, allowing six hits -- including the three-run homer to Wise -- in 6 1/3 innings. Vasquez was the losing pitcher for the White Sox, who are in the postseason for the first time since winning the World Series in 2005.

Shields was taken out with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the seventh inning. He was replaced by Australian reliever Grant Balfour, who struck out Juan Uribe and Orlando Cabrera to end the threat. Cabrera and Balfour exchanged words during the final at-bat and Balfour shouted and pointed in Cabrera's direction after getting the inning-ending strikeout.

`Intense Guy'

``Balfour is an intense guy. He's out there on the mound yelling all the time,'' Longoria said. ``I guess Orlando took a little offense to it. That's the way it is in the postseason, emotions run high. We'll get past it.''

The White Sox scored their final run when Paul Konerko led off the ninth inning with a solo homer off Dan Wheeler.

The Phillies' win over the Brewers gave them a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five National League series as the teams head to Milwaukee for the next two contests.

Philadelphia seized control in the bottom of the second inning, beginning with consecutive one-out doubles by Jayson Werth and Pedro Feliz to tie the score at 1-1.

After a Carlos Ruiz groundout, Phillies starter Brett Myers put together a nine-pitch at-bat against CC Sabathia, inducing increasingly louder cheers from the Citizens Bank Park fans with each foul ball before finally drawing a walk.

Grand Slam

Jimmy Rollins also walked on four pitches, bringing to the plate Shane Victorino, who hit his first career grand slam into the left-field stands.

``He provided most of the power, but I tried to put a good swing on it and left a mark,'' said Victorino, who went 3-for-4 and doubled twice in the win. ``When you've got a guy like CC on the ropes, you've got to take advantage. We found a way to do it.''

Sabathia, who threw seven complete games for the Brewers since his July acquisition from Cleveland, lasted just 3 2/3 innings, striking out five with four walks. All six hits that he allowed went for extra bases.

``That's what today was, me not being able to finish innings and at-bats,'' said Sabathia, who was pitching on three days' rest for the fourth straight time. ``I felt fine, I thought I had good stuff.''

Myers allowed two runs on two hits over seven innings, striking out four with three walks, including one that forced in a Brewers' run.

Milwaukee got two men on base with two outs in the eighth inning before Philadelphia brought on reliever J.C. Romero, who broke Prince Fielder's bat with his first pitch, resulting in a groundout to second base. Brad Lidge retired each of three batters he faced in the ninth to earn his second save in as many nights.

The Cubs, who lost 7-2 at home yesterday to the Dodgers, again host Los Angeles tonight.

The AL divisional series between the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels continues tomorrow with Game 2 in Anaheim, California. The Red Sox won the opening game 4-1 last night.

To contact the reporters on this story: Mason Levinson in New York at mlevinson@bloomberg.net; Erik Matuszewski in New York at matuszewski@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 2, 2008 22:00 EDT