AL East Race Tight As Yanks, Bosox Win

The New York Yankees will do just about anything to hold off the surging Boston Red Sox.

They even tried asking the commissioner’s office to award them a forfeit victory. When that didn’t work, they moved Alex Rodriguez to the No. 2 spot in the batting order.

Rodriguez came through with his first hit with the bases loaded in over a year and the Yankees beat tardy Tampa Bay 7-4 Monday night, after the teams’ day doubleheader was turned into a night game when the Devil Rays were delayed in Florida by Hurricane Frances.

“It’s kind of fun hitting behind Jete and in front of Sheff,” Rodriguez said, referring to Derek Jeter and Gary Sheffield. “It’s a good spot to be in. Hopefully, we’ll generate a lot of runs.”

New York’s day began at 11 a.m., when the team arrived at Yankee Stadium expecting to play two. The Devil Rays’ charter didn’t even take off until five minutes before the doubleheader was scheduled to start at 3 p.m. Major league baseball then switched it to a single night game at 7 p.m., just an hour after the Devil Rays arrived at the ballpark.

The Yankees asked the commissioner’s office to award them a forfeit, a request commissioner Bud Selig made clear he would reject.

“Given the stage of the season we are in, and the exciting pennant races, it is critical that we do everything to decide the championship on the field,” Selig said in a statement.

The Red Sox are doing their part to make the race to play in October exciting. On Monday, they won for the 12th time in 13 games, beating the Oakland Athletics – baseball’s best home team, 8-3.

Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz paired up to hit consecutive homers for the sixth time this season, and Ortiz added a three-run double to give the Boston its 12 win in 13 games and remain 2 1/2 games – the lead was 10 1/2 in mid-August – behind the Yankees in the AL East.

“We just keep coming, coming, coming,” Boston manager Terry Francona said.

In other AL games, it was: Detroit 7, Kansas City 3; Baltimore 4, Minnesota 1; Chicago White Sox 7, Texas 4; and Cleveland 5, Seattle 0.

Rodriguez, shifted up to the No. 2 slot for the first time since hitting in front of Ken Griffey Jr. in October 1999 with Seattle, hit a three-run double for his first bases-loaded hit since July 2003 and helped Orlando Hernandez (7-0) win his seventh straight decision. A-Rod was 0-for-10 in such situations this season.

“He looked more aggressive,” said Yankees manager Joe Torre, who considered the move for three weeks. “We’ll continue to do it as long as it seems comfortable.”

Doug Waechter (3-7) took the loss for Tampa Bay, which played without Aubrey Huff. Huff couldn’t get from his home, which is in a low-lying area, to Tropicana Field.

“We sent the police over,” Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella said, “and we still couldn’t get him out.”

In Oakland, Bronson Arroyo (8-9) pitched 6 2-3 strong innings to win his third straight decision, and Bill Mueller and Dave Roberts each hit RBI doubles in the seventh to give the Red Sox a 4-2 lead.

Barry Zito (10-10), the loser in Game 5 of the AL division series last year against Boston, took the loss.

Orioles 4, Twins 1

At Baltimore, Daniel Cabrera (11-7) pitched three-hit ball into the eighth inning, and Jose Leon and Melvin Mora had two RBIs apiece to lead the surging Orioles to their seventh win in eight games.

Jorge Julio worked the ninth for his 21st save.

Terry Mulholland (4-8) gave up four runs and nine hits in five-plus innings.

Tigers 7, Royals 3

At Detroit, Craig Monroe homered and Omar Infante drove in three runs to back Wil Ledezma’s six strong innings.

The Tigers’ second straight win was their 63rd of the season, preventing them from their third straight 100-loss season.

Ledezma (4-2) gave up two runs – one earned – and seven hits in six innings.

Denny Bautista (0-1) lost in his first major league start.

White Sox 7, Rangers 4

At Arlington, Texas, Carl Everett homered and Chicago took advantage of Texas’ season-high five errors to win its fourth straight.

Jason Grilli (1-1) gave up three runs and eight hits in 5 2-3 innings. Shingo Takatsu got two outs for his 17th save.

Michael Young homered for the fourth time in three games for Texas, which has lost seven of eight to fall seven games behind first-place Oakland in the AL West.

Chan Ho Park (3-5) made two errors for Texas.

Indians 5, Mariners 0

At Seattle, C.C. Sabathia (11-9) threw a five-hitter for his second career shutout and Omar Vizquel hit a two-run homer to lead Cleveland over the Mariners.

Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki went 2-for-4, getting singles in the third and ninth innings to push his season hits total to 226 – 31 short of George Sisler’s 1920 major league record.

Seattle starter Gil Meche (4-6) pitched seven innings.