David Wright drove in three runs, Moises Alou had three hits and the New York Mets beat the Washington Nationals 8-4 on Wednesday, ending a five-game losing streak that cut their lead in the National League East to 1.5 games.
Pelfrey (3-7) allowed three runs in five-plus innings to win his third consecutive decision. After he left, Jorge Sosa and Aaron Heilman combined for three shutout innings, a stretch that began with Sosa getting a strikeout and a double play to escape a first-and-third, no-outs jam in the sixth. Billy Wagner gave up an unearned run in the ninth.
The game was tied 2-2 heading to the fifth, when Jose Reyes singled with one out, Luis Castillo tripled him home and Wright added an RBI single to make it 4-2. The Mets wouldn't trail again, knocking out Matt Chico (5-9) after scoring five runs in five innings.
C.C. Sabathia allowed only five hits over seven innings and Cleveland beat Detroit Tigers 4-2 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep and reduce the Indians' magic number for clinching Major League Baseball's American League Central Division title to three.
Casey Blake homered off Nate Robertson (8-12) as the Indians improved to 20-5 since Aug. 25 and moved into a temporary tie with the Boston Red Sox for US MLB's best record.
In winning three straight over the Tigers, Cleveland opened a seven-game lead over the defending AL champs.
Yankees 2, Red Sox 1
At New York, Andy Pettitte earned his 200th win, Mariano Rivera escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth and New York edged Baltimore to complete a three-game sweep to pull within 1.5 games of first-place Boston.
* See scoreboard for full results



