By The Associated Press
Boston – David Ortiz tied the game in the eighth inning with his 47th homer, then singled home the winning run in the ninth to give the Boston Red Sox a 5-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday night.
Boston trailed 4-1 and a loss would have dropped the Red Sox two games back of New York in the East and one game behind the Cleveland Indians in the wild-card race.
Instead, the Red Sox enter their season-ending, three- game series with the Yankees at Fenway Park trailing New York by one game. Boston would tie its rival to win the East by taking two of three to force a one-game playoff Monday in New York, and would win the division with a sweep.
“It’s going to be three Super Bowl games,” Boston’s Kevin Millar said. “Whoever set the schedule this year is a genius.”
Manny Ramirez hit a two-run homer in the sixth off Jason Frasor that cut the deficit to 4-3.
Ortiz homered off Vinnie Chulk leading off the eighth, and Miguel Batista (5-8) allowed a one-out single in the ninth to Johnny Damon, who stole second. Edgar Renteria walked, and Ortiz lined a 3-2 pitch into the shortstop hole as Damon easily scored.
Yankees 8, Orioles 4
Baltimore – Aaron Small took a one-hitter into the seventh inning to improve to 10-0, and New York got homers from Jason Giambi and Hideki Matsui to maintain a one-game lead over Boston in the East and Cleveland in the wild-card chase.
Alex Rodriguez had two hits and scored twice for the Yankees, who built an 8-0 lead in winning for the 15th time in 18 games.
Small gave up two runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out four and walking five. After breezing through the first six innings, the right-hander gave up a two-run homer to Javy Lopez in the seventh.
The Orioles then loaded the bases with two outs before Tanyon Sturtze retired Chris Gomez on a grounder.
Jay Gibbons hit his 25th with a runner on against Sturtze in the eighth. Tom Gordon got two quick outs to end the inning, and Scott Proctor worked a scoreless ninth – allowing closer Mariano Rivera to rest.
Indians 6, Devil Rays 0
Cleveland – C.C. Sabathia pitched eight shutout innings, Travis Hafner homered and Cleveland remained atop the wild-card standings.
Sabathia (15-10) allowed five hits and improved to 9-1 in his past 11 starts as the Indians ended Tampa Bay’s five-game win streak at Jacobs Field. He walked two, struck out nine.
Angels 7, Athletics 1
Oakland, Calif. – Bartolo Colon became the franchise’s winningest pitcher since Nolan Ryan went 22-16 in 1974.
Colon (21-8) gave up one run and five hits in five innings. He pitched on three days’ rest to get on schedule for starting Tuesday’s playoff opener.
Mariners 4, Rangers 3
Seattle – Richie Sexson had three hits and two RBIs for Seattle, which drew 19,781 – the first crowd under 20,000 in the 5 1/2-year history of Safeco Field.
Royals 10, Twins 6
Minneapolis – Mike Sweeney went 3-for-4 with a homer and five RBIs as Kansas City avoided setting the club record for losses in a season.
