Red Sox Back Into AL East Championship

The Boston Red Sox backed into the American League East championship Friday night when second-place Milwaukee was eliminated with a 7-1 loss to Oakland.

The Red Sox, who fell to Cleveland, 4-2, earlier in the evening, clinched their second division title in three years. Boston, which has lost four of its last five games, will open the AL playoffs Wednesday against Oakland at Fenway Park.

New York was eliminated Friday night with a 6-2 loss to Detroit. That left only Milwaukee in the race, and the Brewers also stumbled as Oakland’s Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire hit consecutive home runs.

Dave Stewart (21-12) improved his lifetime record over Milwaukee to 8-0 with four-hit pitching in eight innings. He struck out 10.

The A’s became the first AL West team in the 20-year history of divisional play to win 103 games. Kansas City won 102 games in 1977.

The Brewers opened up a 1-0 lead in the third inning on Rob Deer’s two-out, RBI single.

But the A’s came right back in the bottom of the third with two runs off Bill Wegman (13-13). Luis Polonia singled with two out and scored on Dave Henderson’s double. Canseco singled home Henderson.

Canseco’s homer increased his major league-leading totals to 42 home runs and 124 RBI. McGwire followed with his 32nd homer of the year for a 4-1 lead.

Walt Weiss’ sacrifice fly and Henderson’s third hit of the game, an RBI single, gave the A’s two more runs in the seventh. Terry Steinbach hit his ninth homer in the eighth.