Thanks to Mueller, Red Sox Skid Ends

Bill Mueller had no reason to sit at his locker and brood Wednesday night.

Mueller hit a tiebreaking three-run homer, David Ortiz homered twice, and the Boston Red Sox broke a five-game losing streak with a 9-5 victory over the Indians at Cleveland.

“Tonight, I was very fortunate that the ball I hit carried and gave us a cushion,” said Mueller, who blamed himself for a 7-6 loss the previous night when he made two throwing errors, then sat at his locker for 45 minutes. “This club knows it is going to perform. Hopefully, this is the start of what we’re capable of doing.”

Bronson Arroyo (1-1) gave up one hit and struck out three over two scoreless innings of relief for the win -- ending Cleveland’s four-game winning streak.

Mueller broke a 5-5 tie with his homer off reliever David Riske in the sixth inning.

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New York 4, Oakland 3 -- Tony Clark doubled in the go-ahead run with two out in the ninth inning at Oakland and the Yankees won their eighth straight game.

Alex Rodriguez tied the score at 3 with his solo homer leading off the ninth. Hideki Matsui hit a bloop single to move Jorge Posada to third with two out in the ninth, then Clark lined a double off Arthur Rhodes.

Paul Quantrill (3-1) pitched 1 1/3 innings for the win. Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his 11th save in as many chances.

Meanwhile, Yankee pitcher Jose Contreras was optioned to Class-A Tampa, a day after allowing six earned runs and four hits in two-plus innings at Oakland. He is 1-2 with a 9.47 earned-run average this season.

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Minnesota 5, Seattle 1 -- Carlos Silva took a shutout bid into the eighth inning at Seattle and stayed unbeaten with his fifth victory. Jacque Jones hit a two-run homer.

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Chicago 6, Baltimore 5 -- Miguel Olivo drove in two runs and Billy Koch and the White Sox survived a wild ninth at Baltimore. Down 6-4, the Orioles loaded the bases with none out in the ninth against Koch. After Javy Lopez hit a sacrifice fly, Jay Gibbons grounded into a forceout that moved the tying run to third. But Koch retired Luis Matos on a tapper to first for his fifth save.

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Texas 6, Tampa Bay 1 -- Ryan Drese (2-0) threw 6 1/3 shutout innings on short rest, and major league hits leader Michael Young had four more -- including a solo homer -- to lead the Rangers at Arlington, Texas.

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Toronto 10, Kansas City 3 -- Vernon Wells homered twice and tied a career high with five RBIs and Roy Halladay (3-3) pitched seven strong innings on three days’ rest at Toronto.