Blue Jays Not Giving Up With Late Run at Red Sox

With the Boston Red Sox in town, now is the time for the Toronto Blue Jays to get back in the AL wild-card race.

Shannon Stewart drove in the game-winning run in the 11th with his fourth hit, and the Blue Jays defeated the Red Sox, 4-3, on Thursday night for their seventh consecutive victory.

In the opener of a four-game series, the Blue Jays managed to overcome Pedro Martinez and moved within a half-game of overtaking Texas for second place in the wild-card race. With a sweep, the Blue Jays could move within five games of the Red Sox, the wild-card leaders.

“It’s not over until it’s over,” Stewart said. “You can’t just lay down. We play these games to win, and baseball’s a crazy game, so you never know what’s going to happen.”

Martinez gave up three runs and seven hits in seven innings, struck out 11 and walked three.

With the score 3-3 in the 11th, Dario Veras (0-1) walked leadoff hitter Tony Fernandez. Craig Grebeck’s one-out grounder advanced the runner and Veras, called up from the minors earlier in the day, hit Alex Gonzalez in the back with a pitch. Stewart singled to center to end it.

Toronto starter Woody Williams gave up two runs and eight hits in seven innings.

“Oddly enough, since we traded all the players away, we’ve started playing better,” said Williams of the trades of Mike Stanley, Juan Guzman, Randy Myers and Tony Phillips.

“We’ve got some younger guys that are real hungry right now, and they’re going out and doing the job.”

Cleveland 2, Detroit 1--Dwight Gooden won again on the road as the Indians defeated the Tigers for their fourth win in five games at Detroit.

Gooden (7-6) is 5-2 in nine road starts this season and 80-54 in his career. Against the Tigers, he went seven innings, giving up five hits and one walk with five strikeouts, all after the fourth inning.

Sandy Alomar and Enrique Wilson, the last two batters in Cleveland’s order, singled off Justin Thompson (10-13) in the third and scored on Kenny Lofton’s double into the left-field corner for the winning runs.

Minnesota 5, Tampa Bay 4--Todd Walker doubled and scored on Terry Steinbach’s single in the 12th inning for the Twins at Minneapolis.

Before a season-low crowd of 7,072, Walker led off the 12th with his second double of the game. Steinbach grounded a one-out single to center field, and Walker scored just ahead of Randy Winn’s throw.

Eddie Guardado (3-1) retired all seven batters he faced for the victory. Rick White (1-5), who came on in the bottom of the 11th, took the loss.

Brad Radke pitched well but failed to win for the seventh consecutive start. He struck out 10 and walked none, giving up three runs and seven hits in nine innings.

Radke last won on July 28 in Kansas City, his only win against seven losses since the All-Star break.