Ortiz’s Consecutive Homers Lift Red Sox

David Ortiz finally leaves the American League Central, and still finds a way to haunt the Chicago White Sox.

Ortiz homered in consecutive at-bats Wednesday night, including a solo shot in the 10th inning to give the Boston Red Sox a 5-4 victory over the White Sox at Chicago.

The loss dropped Chicago into a first-place tie with Minnesota in the Central Division.

“He definitely does some damage against us,” Frank Thomas said of Ortiz. “We have to keep fighting. We just need to win by one game.”

Ortiz spent the previous five seasons with the Minnesota Twins, Chicago’s fierce division rival. And he was brutal to the White Sox when he was there, hitting .375 against them last year and .353 lifetime.

He may have moved to Boston as a free agent in the off-season, but still knows how to give Chicago fits. He went three for five with four runs batted in Wednesday night, matching his career and season highs.

“The guy’s having a great season, and today made it even better,” Boston Manager Grady Little said. “He’s a good kid, he’s a good teammate and he means a lot to this ballclub.”

Manny Ramirez returned to the Red Sox lineup and had two hits. He made an excellent play in the ninth inning to keep the White Sox from winning.

With the victory, Boston moved three games behind the East-leading Yankees heading into their weekend series. The Red Sox also pulled even with Seattle in the wild-card race.

Toronto 4, New York 3 -- Josh Phelps hit a two-run homer and Eric Hinske hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the seventh inning, and the Blue Jays rallied from a three-run deficit at Toronto.

Jason Giambi ended the longest hitless stretch of his career at 25 at-bats when he hit his 36th homer, in the fourth inning.

Baltimore 9, Oakland 0 -- Rodrigo Lopez pitched a seven-hitter and the Orioles battered Tim Hudson at Baltimore to end the Athletics’ 10-game winning streak. The Orioles had lost nine in a row.

The A’s committed a season-high five errors, and Hudson (14-5) was pulled after giving up five runs and eight hits in three innings -- his shortest outing this season.

Tampa Bay 7, Seattle 0 -- Doug Waechter became the first Devil Ray to throw a shutout in his first major league start, finishing with a two-hitter at St. Petersburg, Fla.

The 22-year-old right-hander gave up singles to Rey Sanchez in the third inning and Dan Wilson in the sixth. He struck out seven and walked two, ending Seattle’s four-game winning streak.

Kansas City 3, Texas 1 -- Rookie Jimmy Gobble pitched seven solid innings at Arlington, Texas, and the Royals ended a four-game losing streak.

Detroit 6, Cleveland 5 -- Shane Halter hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the 11th inning to lift the Tigers.