David Ortiz hit two home runs, including a drive in the 11th inning that gave the Boston Red Sox a 6-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night.
Manny Ramirez also homered for the Red Sox, who recovered after wasting a 5-0 lead and moved 3.5 games ahead of the second-place New York Yankees in the AL East.
Ortiz hit a solo homer off Ted Lilly in the fourth before his go-ahead drive against Pete Walker (6-5), which gave him his eighth multihomer game this season. Ortiz has 40 homers, one short of the career high he set last year, and joined Carl Yastrzemski (1969 and '70) as the only Boston players with consecutive 40-homer seasons.
Jonathan Papelbon (1-1) pitched three innings for his first major-league victory.
Orioles 4, Rangers 2
At Arlington, Texas, Daniel Cabrera struck out seven to win his second consecutive start since coming off the disabled list and Baltimore scored twice on a dropped fly ball to beat Texas.
Cabrera (10-11) allowed two runs and six hits in 5 2-3 innings, staying in after Kevin Mench led off the second with a line drive that ricocheted off the pitcher's backside. It was Mench's fielding error in the top of that inning that led to two Orioles runs.
Baltimore had two runners on in the second after B.J. Surhoff reached on an infield single that hit Rangers starter Edison Volquez (0-3) on the foot. After a walk, David Newhan drove in a run with a grounder and Geronimo Gil hit a fly to right that off the top of Mench's glove and rolled into the right-field corner. Two runs scored and Baltimore led 3-1.
B.J. Ryan got three straight outs for his 32nd save in 37 tries.
Athletics 2, Indians 0
At Cleveland, Dan Haren limited baseball's hottest team to four singles in 6 2-3 innings and pushed Oakland higher in the AL wild-card standings as the Athletics beat Cleveland 2-0 on Monday night, stopping the Indians' seven-game winning streak.
Haren (13-10) made sure the A's took the opener of a three-game series they can't afford to lose. Oakland, a major league-best 36-20 since the All-Star break, pulled within 1.5 games of the wild card-leading Indians.
Cleveland, 19-7 since Aug. 16, has a one-game edge over the idle New York Yankees, who opened a three-game set yesterday at Tampa Bay.
The A's made three errors but did just enough offensively to hand C.C. Sabathia (13-10) his first loss since July 30. Jason Kendall hit an RBI single in the third off the left-hander, and Mark Kotsay delivered a sacrifice fly in the seventh against reliever Scott Sauerbeck.
Twins 2, Tigers 1
At Detroit, Kyle Lohse won in his first start since a tirade following his early removal from a game, leading Minnesota over Detroit. Lohse (9-12) allowed one run and six hits in seven innings, stopping Minnesota's three-game losing streak.
Juan Rincon pitched a one-hit eighth, and Joe Nathan finished with a perfect ninth for his 37th save in 42 chances. Minnesota, which has faded from contention in the AL wild-card race, won for only the second time in seven games.
Joe Mauer had four of the Twins' 13 hits, including a go-ahead single in the seventh. Detroit has lost 10 of 12.
With the score 1-1, Shannon Stewart doubled off Chris Spurling (3-2) with one out in the seventh and Nick Punto walked. Left-hander Vic Darensbourg came in to face the left-handed-hitting Mauer, who lined a pitch into left field.
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