Pedroia’s red hot streak lifts red Sox over White Sox

The result had little impact on the teams’ playoff races. Boston remained 4-1/2 games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East and Chicago stayed half a game clear atop the AL Central. The Red Sox did however extend their lead in the wildcard race to 3-1/2 games.

Second baseman Pedroia’s 8-for-8 streak against the White Sox took his season average to .327. It was the first time he had ever batted fourth in the order as Boston made adjustments to a makeshift lineup.

Blue Jays 7, Yankees 6 In New York, Toronto rallied from four runs down to further reduce New York’s dwindling playoff ambitions.

The Yankees fell 7 games behind Boston in the wildcard race with 27 games to play.

Vernon Wells hit a two-run homer, Gregg Zaun drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and Toronto rallied off New York’s tired bullpen.

Angels 4, Rangers 3 In Anaheim, California, Los Angeles reduced the number of wins it needs to clinch the AL West to just nine by beating Texas.

Torii Hunter stole a home run from Texas with a leaping catch, for the second straight day, as the Angels stretched their lead over the Rangers to 18 games.

Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez got his 53rd save in 58 chances, tying the New York Yankees’ Mariano Rivera’s 2004 total for the second-most saves in a season. The record is 57.

Rays 10, Orioles 9 In St. Petersburg, Florida, Tampa Bay got out of a four-run deficit to edge Baltimore and retain its AL East buffer.

Rocco Baldelli hit a game-winning RBI double in the ninth inning to cap the comeback.

With two outs in the ninth, the Rays drew level with a solo homer, and a hit put on a man on base who scored off Baldelli’s rip down the third-base line.

The Rays, an AL-best 51-19 at home, have won the first two games of the three-game set, extending their record of not having lost any of the 13 series since the All-Star break.

Tampa Bay went up 9-8 in the seventh when a batter was bit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Two solo homers then put Baltimore briefly back on top before the Rays came back again.

Athletics 3, Twins 2 In Oakland, California, a ninth-inning throwing error gave Oakland victory over Minnesota, which squandered a chance to go back on top of the AL Central.

Bobby Crosby and Emil Brown both scored on a throwing error by Minnesota closer Joe Nathan.

Crosby singled off Nathan leading off the ninth before the Minnesota right hander hit Brown to put runners on first and second. Then Nathan raced in to field an attempted sacrifice bunt, but threw the ball past the third baseman and into foul territory. Crosby raced home, with Brown scoring behind him.

Mariners 4, Indians 3, 10 innings In Cleveland, Raul Ibanez singled in the go-ahead run to spark Seattle’s two-run 10th inning and beat Cleveland.

Seattle took a 2-0 lead into the ninth, but a two-run homer drew the Indians level.

Cleveland had won 10 straight before lowly Seattle came to town and won the first two games of the three-game series.

Royals 13, Tigers 3 In Detroit, Kansas City snapped a four-game losing trot with a big win over Detroit.

Billy Butler drove in four runs in his first career multi-homer game. Butler hit a solo homer in the second and added a three-run shot during the Royals’ four-run sixth.

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