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Victory assures Red Sox playoff place

The Boston Red Sox became the first team in the majors to clinch a playoff spot this season, rallying on ninth-inning home runs by Jason Varitek and Julio Lugo to beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 8-6 on Saturday.

The victory assured the Red Sox of at least the AL wild-card spot.

Boston trailed 6-5 when Varitek led off the ninth with an opposite-field homer to left off closer Al Reyes (3-3). Eric Hinske then doubled and scored one out later when Lugo homered.

Eric Gagne (4-2) pitched a perfect eighth for the win. Jonathan Papelbon worked the ninth for his 36th save in 39 opportunities.

Carlos Pena homered twice for the Devil Rays, including a go-ahead, three-run shot in the seventh. He has 42 home runs and 116 RBIs -- Pena played 18 games with Boston last season.

Yankees 12, Blue Jays 11, 10 innings

At New York, Melky Cabrera singled home the winning run in the 10th inning for his fifth RBI as New York won a wild one over Toronto.

Cabrera's third big hit of the day off Josh Towers (5-10) ended a messy, back-and-forth game that lasted exactly 5 hours -- after the start was delayed 92 minutes by rain. Plus, it came one day after the teams played 14 innings, a game Toronto won 5-4 after the Yankees rallied for four runs in the ninth.

The Yankees used a team-record 10 pitchers and again took advantage of a defensive misplay by Blue Jays second baseman Aaron Hill.

Athletics 9, Indians 3

At Cleveland, an early misplay on Mark Ellis' easy infield fly doomed Cleveland, Dan Haren pitched six strong innings and Jack Cust homered as Oakland delayed the Indians from winning the AL Central.

Ellis homered and drove in three runs as the A's built a 6-0 lead and spoiled Cleveland's plans of wrapping up its first division title since 2001.

The Indians' magic number was lowered to one when second-place Detroit lost 7-4 at home to Kansas City.

Haren (15-8), the AL's starter in the All-Star game, won for the first time in six starts since Aug. 21. The right-hander, battling Cleveland's Fausto Carmona for the league's ERA title, allowed two runs and seven hits.

Royals 7, Tigers 4

At Detroit, Mark Grudzielanek again got the best of Kenny Rogers, collecting four hits and scoring three times as Kansas City moved Detroit to the verge of elimination.

Grudzielanek is hitting .647 in his career against Rogers and .355 against Detroit this year, and this time provided plenty of support for starter Kyle Davies.

Davies (3-7) won for just the second time in eight starts.

Seattle 3, Los Angeles 2

At Anaheim, California, Miguel Batista pitched into the sixth inning and Ichiro Suzuki scored a run and drove in another for Seattle, postponing a division-clinching win for Los Angeles.

Batista (15-11) allowed only one run. He struck out four.

Oft-injured Bartolo Colon (6-8) gave up three runs and eight hits in eight innings to lose for the eighth time in nine decisions. He got the start because Kelvim Escobar was pushed back because of inflammation in his shoulder.

Baek Cha-seung , Ryan Rowland-Smith, George Sherill and J.J. Putz held the Angels scoreless until the ninth, when Vladimir Guerrero drove in Reggie Willits with an RBI groundout. Putz struck out Garret Anderson with Cabrera at second to earn his 39th save in 41 chances.

In other Ameican League action on Saturday it was:

* White Sox 8, Twins 3

* Orioles 11, Rangers 9

Alfonso Soriano hit two of Chicago's four homers and had five RBIs as the Cubs continued their late-season power display, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-5 on Saturday to solidify their lead in the National League Central.

Soriano hit a solo shot to tie the game in the second and a two-run blast in the fifth for his team-leading 31st homer. The Cubs' star has four home runs in three games and 13 in the 25 games since he came off the disabled list on Aug. 28. He added a two-run double in the seventh.

Aramis Ramirez, who had two homers on Friday, added another and Derrek Lee also went deep as the Cubs hit four homers for the second straight game.

Mets 7, Marlins 2

At Miami, Oliver Perez pitched eight innings, Moises Alou extended his hitting streak to a team record-tying 26 games and New York strengthened its hold on the NL East by beating Florida.

Following a brief swoon earlier this month, the Mets won their second straight. New York's magic number to clinch the division was seven with eight games to play.

Perez (15-9) gave up six hits, one walk and one earned run while striking out eight. Aaron Heilman completed the seven-hitter.

Phillies 4, Nationals 1, 10 innings

At Washington, Ryan Howard drove in the go-ahead run, helping Philadelphia down Washington and keep pace in the NL East.

Chase Utley homered for the Phillies, who won for the ninth time in 10 games.

Philadelphia trails San Diego by a half-game in the wild-card race.

In other National League action on Saturday it was:

* Rockies 6, Padres 2

* Braves 4, Brewers 3, 11 innings

* Diamondbacks 6, Dodgers 2

* Cardinals 7, Astros 4

* Giants 2, Reds 0
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