American LeagueJohn Lackey pitched a five-hitter and rookie Tom Gregorio had a two-run single as the Anaheim Angels beat Seattle 4-0 Wednesday, pushing the Mariners to the brink of postseason elimination.
Seattle's seventh loss in 11 games meant Boston clinched no worse than a tie for the AL wild-card berth.
Lackey (10-16) struck out four and walked two in his second career shutout. He had lost his previous three starts and five of six.
Gil Meche (15-13) pitched because Ryan Franklin had a stiff neck Wednesday morning and allowed three runs and six hits in five innings.
Orioles 7, Red Sox 3
In Boston, the Red Sox had hoped to clinch a wild-card berth with a win. Instead, the Orioles' Tony Batista hit a grand slam off John Burkett (11-9) in a seven-run first.
Pat Hentgen (7-8) allowed three runs and six hits in six innings.
For the Red Sox to miss the playoffs, they would have lose their final four games, and Seattle would have to sweep a three-game series against Oakland, then beat Boston in a tiebreaker playoff.
Burkett (11-9) allowed seven hits and seven runs -- six of them earned. He left after retiring just one batter, the shortest start of his 14 major league seasons.
Tigers 4, Royals 3
In Kansas City, Missouri, the Detroit Tigers remained two losses short of the post-1900 major league, set by the 1962 New York Mets (40-120). Shane Loux (1-1) earned his first major league victory by allowing one run and three hits in five innings.
Detroit (40-118) won consecutive games for the first time since taking three straight from Cleveland from Sept. 2-4. The Tigers were 2-0 under Larry Parrish, filling in as manager while Alan Trammell attended his mother's funeral.
White Sox 9, Yankees 4
In Chicago, Esteban Loaiza (20-9) became the fifth 20-game winner of the season, allowing three runs and five hits in six innings. He joined Toronto's Roy Halladay (21-7), Atlanta's Russ Ortiz (21-7), Seattle's Jamie Moyer (20-7) and the Yankees' Andy Pettitte (20-8).
Mike Mussina (17-8), bidding for his 200th win, gave up a season-high eight runs -- all in the sixth inning. He is likely to start the Yankees' postseason opener Tuesday.
Jose Valentin hit a three-run homer, and Carlos Lee drove in a pair of runs in Chicago's big inning. It was only the fourth loss in the last 18 games for the AL East champions.
Athletics 5, Rangers 3
In Oakland, California, Jose Guillen, playing with a broken bone in his left hand, hit a two-run homer for the AL West champions and bunted home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning.
Tim Hudson (16-7), who is to start Game 1 of the playoffs, allowed two runs -- one earned -- and five hits in seven innings. Chad Harville pitched the ninth for his first major league save. Ron Mahay (3-2) was the loser.
Twins 3, Indians 2
In Minneapolis, Michael Cuddyer homered off Rafael Betancourt (2-2) in the eighth to break a 2-all tie for the AL Central champions, who won their 11th straight. It's the longest winning streak for the Twins since a 15-game spurt in 1991 -- the last year they won the World Series.
Lew Ford, one of 14 rookies who started in this game, homered and hit an RBI triple for Minnesota.
Jesse Orosco (1-0) pitched one-third of an inning for the victory.
National League
Jeff Conine hit a home run for the second straight night and Juan Encarnacion also homered Wednesday as the Florida Marlins built a six-run lead, then hung on to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5.
"That would have been a tough one to swallow if we had let that get away," said Conine.
Florida, 12-6 against the Phillies this year, took a a three-game lead in the National League wild-card race with four games to go. Philadelphia has lost four consecutive games heading into Thursday's series finale.
Phillies catcher Mike Lieberthal all but conceded the race to the Marlins.
"If we win every game from here on out, we probably still won't get in," he said. "It's theirs to hold on to."
Josh Beckett (9-8) took a two-hit shutout into the eighth, when Florida pulled within a run. Beckett allowed four runs and six hits.
Chad Fox struck out Chase Utley with two runners on to end the eighth, and Ugueth Urbina's perfect ninth gave Florida its largest wild-card lead this season.
Brett Myers (14-9) lost to Florida for the fourth time this year, giving up five runs and seven hits in five-plus innings.
Astros 2, Giants 1
In Houston, pinch-hitter Jose Vizcaino had a two-run single off Sidney Ponson (3-6) with two outs in the seventh to lead Houston past San Francisco.
Houston, which remained one game behind NL Central-leading Chicago, stopped a four-game losing streak, which had tied a season high. A defeat would have dropped the Astros two games back with four to play.
Roy Oswalt (10-5) won his fourth straight start since coming off the disabled list, allowing three hits in eight innings, including Pedro Feliz's second-inning homer.
Billy Wagner got three straight outs for his 44th save, striking out pinch-hitter Barry Bonds to start the ninth. The NL West champion Giants rested many of their regulars.
Cubs 8, Reds 0
In Cincinnati, Sammy Sosa tied Mickey Mantle for 10th place with his 536th homer, and Shawn Estes (8-11) pitched a four-hitter for his eighth career shutout as Chicago blanked Cincinnati.
Paul Bako hit a three-run double for the Cubs, who hadn't been alone in first place this late in the season since 1989, the last time they won a division title.
Cardinals 8, Brewers 4
In Milwaukee, J.D. Drew homered and Matt Morris (11-8) allowed three runs on seven hits in seven innings for St. Louis, which would have been eliminated from postseason contention with a loss to Milwaukee.
The Cardinals, who won for the seventh time in eight games, trail NL Central-leading Chicago by 3 1/2 games.
Jason Isringhausen got five outs for his 20th save. Matt Kinney (10-13) allowed five runs, seven hits and four walks in five innings.
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