Chisox 15-Game Lead Is Now Just 2 1/2

CHICAGO – The Cleveland Indians continue their march toward the top the American League Central Division tonight with a game against the first-place Chicago White Sox. The Sox have squandered most of the 15-game division lead they held on Aug. 1 and the red-hot Indians are now just 2 1/2 games back.

The Indians send Jake Westbrook (15-14) to the mound against Mark Buehrle (15-8).

The New York Yankees are hoping Aaron Small can come up big once again tonight. The 33-year-old right-hander is 8-0 with a 3.28 earned run average since his callup from Triple-A Columbus in mid-July. He’ll be opposed by Baltimore’s John Maine, who is 2-1.

New York is chasing Boston in the American League East and Cleveland in the wild-card race. The Yanks are just a half-game behind the Bosox and a game and a half in back of the Indians.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona will hand the ball to Curt Schilling (6-8) tonight against the homestanding Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

The AL West-leading Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim send out 19-game winner Bartolo Colon against the visiting Texas Rangers.

Second-place Oakland is home to Minnesota and Seattle is at Toronto in a matchup of two teams playing out the string. The Athletics are a game and a half behind the Angels.

Two more out-of-contention teams are first up this evening with the Kansas City Royals hosting a twinight doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers.

The Boston Red Sox know this is not the time to panic. But it’s also not the time to struggle – a lesson the Chicago White Sox still don’t seem to grasp.

Both teams had their division leads reduced Monday night, with Chicago moving closer to a huge collapse after a loss to hard-charging Cleveland.

Boston’s lead over New York in the AL East is down to a half-game after its 8-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It’s the closest the Yankees, who beat Baltimore 3-2 on Monday, have been since July 26, when they were one game behind.

“We’re fine,” Boston first baseman Kevin Millar said. “One thing we don’t do is panic. One thing we don’t do is get negative. We believe in each other … pick each other up. That’s all you can do.”

The Red Sox made postseason history last year when they overcame a 3-0 deficit to beat the Yankees in the American League championship series, so they aren’t going to be fazed by a close race.

Nobody would have expected the White Sox to be in one a month ago.

Chicago had a 15-game lead in the AL Central after a victory on Aug. 1, but that lead is down to 2 1/2 games over Cleveland. The Indians won for the 13th time in 14 games with Monday’s 7-5 victory over the White Sox in the opener of a three-game series.

The White Sox have lost eight of 11.

“I will be concerned if we are one game behind,” Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. “You get nervous when you don’t do anything about it. … We just have to keep fighting.”

In other AL games, it was: New York 3, Baltimore 2; Seattle 7, Toronto 5; Oakland 7, Minnesota 6; and Kansas City 10, Detroit 4.

At Chicago, Aaron Boone delivered a two-run single with two outs in the eighth inning. The Indians blew a four-run lead, then recovered to win their sixth straight and keep their 1 1/2-game lead over the Yankees in the wild-card race.

“They’re all important now,” Boone said. “This was a great game. They came back. We came back. It was a good win. You can’t get enough of them.”

The White Sox tied the game on Paul Konerko’s two-run double in the fifth, then took a 5-4 lead when Carl Everett homered in the seventh off Rafael Betancourt (4-3). But Chicago couldn’t hold onto the lead – and it might not hold it in the division, either.

“It’s been a race for a few weeks in my opinion,” Konerko said. “But that doesn’t mean we have to lose just because we have lost so much ground or they have gained so much. I think it’s a combination of both.”

Boston isn’t playing as poorly as Chicago, but also is struggling to hold off a surging team. The Yankees have won seven of eight.

“The Yankees, they probably could play no worse than what they did early in the season,” Boston’s David Ortiz said. “They’re not going to play any worse than that, guaranteed. The way those guys are playing over there right now, you got to bring your ‘A’ game to beat them.”

Ortiz continues to do that, hitting his 44th homer and driving in four runs Monday. But Mark Hendrickson (10-7) won his sixth straight decision and the Devil Rays chased David Wells in the third inning. Chad Harville (0-1) replaced him and took the loss.

“When the season is over, we want to be on top regardless of how we get there,” Boston manager Terry Francona said. “A tough game tonight. Our job now is to show up tomorrow and be one run better instead of one run worse.”

Yankees 3, Orioles 2

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

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 after Chien-Ming Wang’s eight stellar innings.

Athletics 7, Twins 6

At Oakland, Calif., Nick Swisher hit a three-run homer and Mark Ellis followed with a solo shot as Oakland staked Barry Zito (14-12) to an early lead before holding on.

Zito (14-12) pitched 6 1-3 shutout innings and the A’s pulled within 1 1/2 games of the AL West-leading Los Angeles Angels, who were off Monday.

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

Mariners 7, Blue Jays 5

At Toronto, Richie Sexson hit his third grand slam of the season in the ninth as Seattle snapped a four-game losing streak.

Alex Rios tripled and homered for Toronto, but closer Miguel Batista (5-7) blew his eighth save – fourth since Aug. 23.

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

Royals 10, Tigers 4

Matt Stairs had a three-run homer and Mike Wood (5-7) snapped his three-game losing streak as Kansas City won before its smallest home crowd in 10 years.

The Royals drew an announced attendance of 8,915. That’s the smallest crowd to see a Royals home game since July 5, 1995, when 7,511 watched them play Boston.

Jeremy Bonderman (14-13) gave up seven runs and 11 hits in 4 2-3 innings. Detroit is 4-15 in September, and with 82 losses is assured of its 12th consecutive losing season.