American LeagueTorii Hunter tied his career high with five RBIs as the Minnesota Twins defeated the Cleveland Indians 13-6 Monday night and took sole possession of the American League Central lead for the first time since June 30.
Hunter, Michael Ryan and Cristian Guzman each drove in two runs during an eight-run sixth inning. Hunter added a three-run homer in the ninth of Terry Mulholland, giving him a career-high 99 RBIs.
Minnesota (81-69) moved a half-game ahead of idle Chicago (80-69). The defending AL Central champions, 37-20 since the All-Star break, begin a three-game series today at home against the White Sox.
Johan Santana (11-3) improved to 7-0 in nine starts since July 29 as the Twins won for the 10th time in 13 games. Jason Davis (8-11) allowed seven runs and six hits in 5 2-3 innings.
Red Sox 8, Devil Rays 2
In Boston, Derek Lowe won his fifth straight decision, and Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz homered in another Boston slugging display as the Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
The Red Sox increased their wild-card lead over Seattle to 1 1/2 games. Boston trails New York by 5 1/2 games in the AL East.
Ramirez and Ortiz also doubled for Boston, which has 605 extra-base hits, two short of the major league record Seattle set in 1996.
Lowe (16-6) started with 4 2-3 hitless innings against the team he no-hit on April 27 last year in Fenway Park. With the Devil Rays chasing his sinker, Lowe allowed four hits in eight innings.
National League
Robert Fick hit his first home run in six weeks as the Atlanta Braves reduced their magic number for clinching a record 12th straight division title to three with a 10-6 victory over the Montreal Expos on Monday night.
Horacio Ramirez (11-4) won his third straight decision for Atlanta, which got its major league-leading 94th win and moved 10 games ahead of idle Florida in the National League East. Ramirez allowed seven hits and two runs in seven innings.
Giants 8, Padres 7
In San Francisco, Barry Bonds hit his 655th career home run and reached a milestone in walks as San Francisco rallied to beat San Diego.
Bonds connected for a solo shot off Brian Lawrence in the first inning for his 42nd homer of the season. The slugger is five shy of tying his godfather, Willie Mays, for third on the career list at 660.
Hank Aaron leads that list with 755, followed by Babe Ruth at 714. Bonds is tied with St. Louis' Albert Pujols for most in the NL, one behind major league leader Alex Rodriguez of Texas.
Pinch-runner Pedro Feliz scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch by Jay Witasick (3-5) with two outs in the eighth, capping a crazy comeback.
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