Red Sox Land Their First Shot Against Indians

Dante Bichette hit a two-run homer in the third inning when Chuck Finley had another one-inning meltdown, and the Boston Red Sox gained in the American League wild-card race Tuesday night with an 8-6 victory over the Cleveland Indians at Cleveland.

It was the first of eight games in 10 days between the Red Sox and Indians, who have met three times in the postseason since 1995 and don’t like each other. In the past two years they’ve traded wins, punches and brushback pitches.

“We know what we have to do,” Red Sox reliever Derek Lowe said. “If you win, you’re in. If not, you’re playing golf on Oct. 2.”

Bichette’s homer capped Boston’s six-run third off Finley (12-11) and the Red Sox hung on to pull within two games of Cleveland for the final playoff spot.

Nomar Garciaparra, who entered the series batting only .133 this season against Cleveland, drove in two runs for Boston. Jose Offerman and Carl Everett also had two RBIs each as the Red Sox Nos. 2-5 hitters all drove in runs.

Seattle 11, Kansas City 3--Freddy Garcia won his third consecutive start in September and the Mariners stayed one game ahead of Oakland in the AL West with a victory at Seattle.

Joe Oliver went three for five with two doubles and three runs batted in for the Mariners, who are 7-5 this month after going 11-17 in August.

Edgar Martinez, who also went three for five with three RBIs, hit his 34th homer in the eighth.

New York 10, Toronto 2--Jose Canseco went three for three, hitting his 446th career home run to lead Denny Neagle and the Yankees over the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium.

Canseco drove in three runs and scored three times as the Yankees won for the 10th time in 13 games. The Blue Jays, who had won three in a row, were blunted in their bid to move up in the AL wild-card race.

Texas 9-6, Baltimore 1-5--Kenny Rogers pitched seven strong innings for his first victory in seven starts as the Rangers completed a doubleheader sweep of the Orioles at Arlington, Texas.

Rogers (12-13) gave up three runs and seven hits in his first victory since Aug. 8, helping the Rangers to a sweep of their only doubleheader of the season.

Detroit 10, Chicago 3--Bobby Higginson homered to cap a six-run third inning as the Tigers ended a six-game losing streak by beating the White Sox at Chicago.