Canseco Leads Boston to East Title as Red Sox Defeats Brewers, 3-2

Mo Vaughn stood on second, pumping his fist toward Jose Canseco, who had just delivered the decisive run--and the AL East title--with a broken-bat single, not a trademark homer.

Canseco did what the Red Sox hoped he would do when they traded with Texas for him in the off-season. His seventh-inning hit Wednesday night gave Boston a 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers and its first division championship since 1990.

“That’s why we got him,” Vaughn said. “He set out to do a job and he did it, and that’s why we are right here.”

Canseco, obtained in a trade with Texas in the off-season, has been a key to Boston’s season, batting .306 with 24 homers and 77 RBIs, including two RBIs Wednesday. Since the All-Star break, he is batting .327 with 19 homers and 56 RBIs.

“I really didn’t think about it,” Canseco said. “I just thought about getting that base hit, putting us ahead.”

The Red Sox have held first place by themselves since May 13 and built a season-high 16-game lead Aug. 28. But they’ve had trouble clinching the division title. They went 3-7 on a recent trip to New York, Baltimore and Cleveland as their magic number remained at two.

But the Red Sox finally came through this week.