Jed Lowrie hit a solo home run in the 11th inning to give Boston a 6-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5 on Sunday, keeping the Red Sox on top in the American League wild card race.
Boston closed the gap on AL East leaders Tampa Bay with the win but still holds just a one-game lead over the Minnesota Twins in the wild card hunt.
"It was a great win," Boston manager Terry Francona said.
"We need all the wins we can get because we're in a real battle right now. We've got a day to regroup and we probably need to."
Boston is 4-7 against Toronto this season, and Sunday's win was only its second in six trips to Rogers Center.
"It was a big win because the Blue Jays have been playing great and they are one of the teams trying to catch us," said Boston's Jason Bay, who made a leaping catch against the wall to end the 10th inning.
"They have played us very well too, so to be able to finally win a few games here is huge for us."
The Blue Jays fell eight games behind the Red Sox in the wild card race with 32 games remaining but have seven games left against them in September.
Both starters were looking to stretch winning streaks, but Daisuke Matsuzaka left after six innings and A.J. Burnett after seven, with the score tied 5-5.
Matsuzaka had won four in a row and Burnett five.
"The bottom line is that this loss is my fault," Burnett said. "We needed this one and I didn't come through."
Dustin Pedroia had a three-run homer and Coco Crisp also homered for the Red Sox. Jonathan Papelbon (5-3) pitched two scoreless innings for the win.
Vernon Wells hit his third homer in two days for the Jays, while Lyle Overbay also homered. Reliever Brandon League (0-2) allowed Lowrie's game-winning homer in the top of the 11th.
In Anaheim, California , the Los Angeles Angels got RBI triples from Vladimir Guerrero and Gary Matthews Jr. in the eighth inning to rally past the Minnesota Twins 5-3 for a split of their four-game series on Sunday.
Trailing 3-0, Mark Teixeira homered in the sixth and Howie Kendrick scored on a groundout in the seventh to cut Minnesota's lead to 3-2.
Teixeira led off the eighth with a double against Denny Reyes and scored when Guerrero drove an 0-1 pitch from Jesse Crain (5-3) to center for his third triple of the season. Matthews later tripled in the go-ahead run and scored on Juan Rivera's sacrifice fly.
In Chicago, Alexei Ramirez singled home the winning run in the 10th inning after A.J. Pierzynski's bizarre trip around the bases, and Chicago rallied to avoid a sweep, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 6-5.
Jim Thome hit his 534th homer, Carlos Quentin also connected and the White Sox tied it at 5 in the ninth on pinch-hitter Paul Konerko's two-out single off fill-in closer Dan Wheeler.
Pierzynski led off the 10th with a single against Jason Hammel (4-4), then tagged up and went to second on a flyout to center. Jermaine Dye sent a grounder toward shortstop, Pierzynski got caught in a rundown and the strange play unfolded.
Pierzynski appeared to get tagged out after falling, but second base umpire Doug Eddings signaled safe. Eddings called interference on Rays third baseman Willy Aybar, apparently ruling that he bumped the runner after a throw toward second. Replays showed that Pierzynski initiated the contact, hitting Aybar with his left elbow before falling to the ground.
Tampa Bay infielders and manager Joe Maddon argued vehemently to no avail, and Pierzynski was awarded third. Hammel intentionally walked Thome before Ramirez singled to right.
In New York, Brad Ausmus and Darin Erstad hit home runs in the 10th inning for the Houston Astros to beat the New York Mets 6-4 in the National League on Sunday.
Hunter Pence added a two-run shot as Houston overcame Carlos Beltran's two homers, improving to 3-3 on its seven-game road trip.
Pedro Feliciano (2-4), the Mets' sixth pitcher, gave up both home runs in the 10th and New York lost consecutive games for the first time since Aug 10-11. The NL East leaders fell to 1-5 against Houston this season.
In Phoenix, Josh Willingham homered and drove in two runs to back Ricky Nolasco's outstanding pitching performance, moving Florida within five games of the first-place Mets after beating Arizona Diamondbacks 5-2.
Nolasco (13-7) allowed three hits and struck out 10 over 7-1/3 innings for the Marlins, who took two of three from NL West-leading Arizona.
Arizona's Doug Davis (5-8) allowed three runs and seven hits with eight strikeouts in seven innings.
(Agencies via China Daily August 26, 2008)