Boston’s Gordon Saves the Day

Mo Vaughn singled in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning and Tom Gordon set a major league single-season record with his 39th consecutive save as the Boston Red Sox rallied to beat Baltimore, 3-2, Thursday night at Baltimore.

Boston increased its lead over Toronto in the American League wild-card race to five games. The Blue Jays lost to Detroit.

“This was a key win for us. This gives us a little bit more cushion,” Vaughn said. “We’re in pretty good position now, but it’s not over until we clinch. There are still games to play, but if we keep playing the way we have the past few days we should be OK.”

Donnie Sadler went three for four with a homer for the Red Sox, who trailed, 2-0, in the seventh before coming back for their third victory in a row.

Rafael Palmeiro hit his 43rd homer for the Orioles, who have lost three in a row. Any combination of Boston wins and Baltimore losses totaling two will eliminate the Orioles from playoff contention.

Gordon set the major league mark for successive saves by getting three outs in the 10th. He has 42 saves in 43 opportunities this season.

“This record is something special,” Gordon said. “You hear day in and day out all year about records, but it wasn’t something I was thinking about all along. But now that it’s here, it is special.”

Cleveland 9, Minnesota 1--Manny Ramirez hit his 43rd homer, tying the major league record with his sixth in three games, as the Indians won at Cleveland.

He hit three homers on Tuesday and two more on Wednesday before becoming the seventh player and third American Leaguer to hit six in three games. His two-run shot in the fourth off Eric Milton gave him six in his last nine official at-bats.

Ramirez is the first player with six homers in three games since Philadelphia’s Mike Schmidt in 1976. He is the first American Leaguer to do it since Gus Zernial of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1951.

New York 4, Tampa Bay 0--Hideki Irabu yielded two singles in eight innings at St. Petersburg, Fla., to win for the first time since Aug. 10 as the Yankees responded to a verbal lashing from Manager Joe Torre.

Torre admonished the AL East champions for sloppy play after a 7-0 loss to the expansion Devil Rays Wednesday night.

Seattle 8, Oakland 0--Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 53rd homer, a three-run shot in the first inning, and Jamie Moyer pitched a four-hitter at Oakland.

Griffey’s homer, his 11th in the last 23 games, was a drive into the right-field stands that came after Carlos Guillen and Alex Rodriguez began the game with singles off Tom Candiotti (11-16).

Detroit 7, Toronto 4--Damion Easley hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning to give the Tigers the victory at Tiger Stadium.

Easley, who hit a solo homer in the second, drove Robert Person’s pitch off the facing of the second deck in right field.

Kansas City 13, Chicago 4--Jose Offerman drove in two runs, stole three bases and hit his major league-leading 13th triple as the Royals won at Chicago.