Struggling White Sox Lose Again

Aaron Boone delivered a two-out, two-run single in the eighth inning Monday night and the Cleveland Indians rallied past the sliding White Sox, 7-5, at Chicago, cutting Chicago’s once huge lead in the American League Central to 2 1/2 games.

“They’re all important now,” Boone said after the Indians’ 13th victory in the last 14 games and sixth in a row. “This was a great game. They came back. We came back. It was a good win.”

Boone, who homered earlier to help the Indians build a 4-0 lead they couldn’t hold, worked his way out of an 0-and-2 hole and lined a single up the middle off Bobby Jenks.

The teams play twice more at Chicago before closing the season with three at Cleveland. The Indians also maintained their 1 1/2 -game lead in the wild-card race over the Yankees.

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New York 3, Baltimore 2 -- Rarely used reserve Bubba Crosby led off the bottom of the ninth inning with his first home run this season to give the Yankees the win.

Chien-Ming Wang pitched eight strong innings and Alex Rodriguez had an RBI single for the Yankees, who have won seven of eight and 11 of 15. They closed to within half a game of first-place Boston in the AL East after the Red Sox lost to Tampa Bay.

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Tampa Bay 8, Boston 7 -- Mark Hendrickson won his sixth straight decision and the Devil Rays held on to win at St. Petersburg, Fla.

David Ortiz drove in four runs, two on a double in the seventh that got Boston to within one run, 7-6, and another on his 44th homer that made the score 8-7 with two out in the ninth.

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Kansas City 10, Detroit 4 -- Matt Stairs had three hits, including a three-run homer, for the Royals at Kansas City, Mo., in front of their smallest home crowd in 10 years, an announced 8,915.

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Seattle 7, Toronto 5 -- Richie Sexson hit a grand slam in the ninth inning to rally the Mariners at Toronto.