Red Sox Put Hurt on Athletics

David Ortiz homered and drove in four runs to lead the Boston Red Sox to their 12th win in 13 games, a wild 8-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Monday night at Oakland.

Manny Ramirez and Ortiz hit consecutive home runs in the fourth inning off Barry Zito, and Bronson Arroyo (8-9) pitched 6 2/3 strong innings to win his third decision in a row. Bill Mueller and Dave Roberts each hit run-scoring doubles in the seventh, and Ortiz had a three-run double in the ninth.

The Red Sox began a seven-game West Coast trip by beating the American League West leaders, whose division lead was cut to 2 1/2 games over the Angels.

The Red Sox remained 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Yankees in the AL East after New York beat Tampa Bay, 7-4. Boston has won six of the first seven meetings against the A’s this season.

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Baltimore 4, Minnesota 1 -- Daniel Cabrera pitched three-hit ball into the eighth inning, and Jose Leon and Melvin Mora had two runs batted in apiece to lead the Orioles past the Twins at Baltimore.

It was the seventh win in eight games for the Orioles, playing at home for the first time since Aug. 22. Baltimore was 0-6 on its last homestand, and ended up losing 12 in a row overall. But the Orioles have gone 7-1 since, in part because the starters have given up only four earned runs over the last 41 2/3 innings.

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Cleveland 5, Seattle 0 -- C.C. Sabathia threw a five-hitter for his second career shutout, and Omar Vizquel hit a two-run homer to lead the Indians at Seattle.

Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki was two for four to push his season hit total to 226 -- 31 short of George Sisler’s 1920 major league record of 257. Suzuki has 25 games left.

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Chicago 7, Texas 4 -- Carl Everett homered at Arlington, Texas, and the White Sox took advantage of the Rangers’ season-high five errors to win their fourth in a row. Jason Grilli (1-1) gave up three runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. Shingo Takatsu got two outs for his 17th save in 18 chances.

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Detroit 7, Kansas City 3 -- Craig Monroe homered and Omar Infante drove in three runs to back Wil Ledezma’s six strong innings at Detroit. The Tigers’ second straight win was their 63rd of the season, preventing them from their third 100-loss season in a row.