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Indians creep up on White Sox

Aaron Boone's two-run, two-out single in the eighth inning sent Cleveland to a 7-5 victory over Chicago on Monday night and moved the Indians one game closer to the sliding White Sox in the AL Central.

Cleveland cut the White Sox's one-time lead of 15 games on Aug. 1, to 2.5 games and maintained its 1.5-game lead for the AL wild card over New York.

Boone, who homered to help the Indians build a 4-0 lead, lined a single up the middle off Bobby Jenks to give Cleveland a 6-5 lead. The Indians have won six straight and 13 of 14, while the White Sox have lost eight of 11.

Carl Everett homered in the seventh off Rafael Betancourt (4-3) to give the White Sox a 5-4 lead. Paul Konerko's two-run, two-out double had capped a four-run fifth off Kevin Millwood to tie the game.

Down 5-4, the Indians rallied against Damaso Marte, who relieved with one out in the eighth. He walked Travis Hafner and gave up a double to Victor Martinez. Marte (3-4) then struck out Ben Broussard and was replaced by Jenks.

Hafner hit a run-scoring double in the ninth to make it 7-5 and finished 3-for-3 with two walks and three RBIs.

Bob Wickman pitched the ninth to earn his 44th save.

Devil Rays 8, Red Sox 7

In St. Petersburgh, Florida, Mark Hendrickson won his sixth straight decision and Tampa Bay held on to beat Boston, which had its lead in the AL East over New York trimmed to one-half game.

It is the closest the Yankees have been since July 26, when they were one game behind.

David Ortiz drove in four runs, two on a double in the seventh that got Boston within 7-6 and another on his 44th homer that made it 8-7 with two outs in the ninth.

The Devil Rays had gone ahead 8-6 in the eighth on an RBI grounder by Jonny Gomes.

Danys Baez allowed Ortiz's homer in the ninth but earned his 38th save by striking out Manny Ramirez to end the game.

The Devil Rays chased starter David Wells in the third inning in beating the Red Sox for the fifth time in 17 meetings this season. Wells gave up four runs and 10 hits in 2 2-3 innings.

Jorge Cantu put the Devil Rays ahead 7-4 in the sixth with two-run homer off Jonathan Papelbon.

Hendrickson (10-7), who tied Victor Zambrano's franchise mark established last year with his six-game winning streak, allowed six runs and eight hits in 6 1-3 innings.

Yankees 3, Orioles 2

In New York, Reserve outfielder Bubba Crosby led off the bottom of the ninth with his first home run this season for New York.

Chien-Ming Wang pitched eight stellar innings and Alex Rodriguez had an RBI single for the surging Yankees, who have won seven of eight and 11 of 15. They moved within one-half game of first-place Boston in the AL East and started the day 1.5 games behind Cleveland in the wild-card race.

Crosby hit a 1-0 pitch from Eric DuBose (1-3) over the fence in right-center. Mariano Rivera (7-4) worked a perfect ninth for the win.

Wang, who had nine assists, allowed two runs and seven hits.

Mariners 7, Blue Jays 5

In Toronto, Richie Sexson hit a grand slam in the ninth inning to rally Seattle, which snapped a four-game losing streak.

Trailing 4-3 in the ninth, pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs led off with a single against Toronto closer Miguel Batista (5-7), who has blown eight saves this season -- four since Aug. 23. Ichiro Suzuki followed with a perfect bunt single. Both advanced on a sacrifice and Raul Ibanez was intentionally walked. Sexson then hit his 38th homer, his third grand slam of the season and the ninth of his career.

George Sherrill (4-2) got the last out of the eighth and Eddie Guardado earned his 32nd save.

Alex Rios tripled and homered for Toronto.

Royals 10, Tigers 4

In Kansas City, Missouri, Matt Stairs had three hits, including a three-run homer, and Kansas City won before its smallest home crowd in 10 years.

Detroit is 4-15 in September, and with 82 losses is assured of its 12th consecutive losing season.

The Royals, who have lost 99 games, drew an announced attendance of 8,915. That is the smallest crowd to see a Royals' home game since July 5, 1995, when 7,511 watched them play Boston.

Mike Wood (5-7) was 0-3 in four starts before earning his first victory since Aug. 20, when he helped snap the Royals' franchise-record 19-game losing streak. He gave up four runs and eight hits.

Jeremy Bonderman (14-13) gave up seven runs and 11 hits in 4 2-3 innings. He has lost four straight starts and seven of eight.

Athletics 7, Twins 6

In Oakland, California, Nick Swisher hit a three-run homer and Mark Ellis followed with a solo shot as Oakland staked Barry Zito to an early lead then held on, allowing five runs in the ninth.

Zito (14-12) pitched 6 1-3 shutout innings and the A's pulled within 1{ games of the AL West-leading Los Angeles Angels.

Swisher hit his 19th home run off Brad Radke with two outs in the second, then Ellis hit his career-high 10th.

Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer homered for Minnesota, which lost for the ninth time in 13 games. Radke (9-12) allowed six hits and five runs in five innings.

Ian Snell limited Houston to three singles over eight innings for his first major league victory, besting 340-game winner Roger Clemens in Pittsburgh's 7-0 win on Monday.

Freddy Sanchez had three extra-base hits, including a home run, against Clemens, as the Pirates won for the fifth time in six games and ended Houston's five-game winning streak.

Houston's lead over idle Philadelphia was cut to one game in the National League wild-card race.

Snell (1-2) was 0-3 with a 12.38 ERA in four career starts, but the right-hander didn't allow a runner past second base, struck out five and walked three. Jose Mesa pitched the ninth inning to complete the ninth shutout loss in an Astros game started by Clemens this season.

Clemens (12-8) allowed six runs, four earned, and a season-high 11 hits in 5 2-3 innings.

Jack Wilson tripled with one out in the third and scored on Jason Bay's single. Sanchez hit his third homer in the fourth to make it 2-0. Sanchez doubled to start the sixth and scored on Tike Redman's single.

Padres 8, Rockies 7

In Denver, Khalil Greene hit two homers, including the game-winner in the ninth inning, to lift San Diego back over .500.

Greene took a 1-0 pitch off Rockies closer Brian Fuentes (2-4) to left-center to help the Padres win their third straight close game and improve to 75-74. They moved six games ahead of idle San Francisco in the weak NL West and their magic number shrunk to eight.

Scott Linebrink (8-1) threw two scoreless innings for the win. Trevor Hoffman pitched the ninth for his 36th straight save and 39th overall.

This was Greene's fourth career multihomer game. His first homer came in the second for a 2-0 lead. He also had a double.

Todd Helton of the Rockies tripled and Matt Holliday singled him home in the seventh to tie the game at 7. Starting pitcher Sunny Kim allowed 11 hits, seven runs and three homers in 5 2-3 innings.

San Diego starter Brian Lawrence lasted 2 1-3 innings, allowing nine hits and five runs.
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