NEW YORK, Sept 26, (AP): The Red Sox salvaged their American League wild-card lead Sunday when Jacoby Ellsbury hit a three-run homer in the 14th inning of the nightcap of a day-night doubleheader, lifting Boston over the New York Yankees 7-4. The Red Sox rallied from a 3-0 deficit to snap a four-game skid and head into their final series with a one-game lead over Tampa Bay. Boston held a nine-game lead over the Rays entering play Sept 4 but has gone 5-16 since. Up by 1-1/2 games to start the day, the Red Sox nearly wasted that entire lead after losing the opener 6-2 despite Ellsbury’s two homers.

Boston finishes in Baltimore, while Tampa Bay hosts the Yankees, who already have clinched the AL’s best record and homefield advantage through the AL championship series.
Ellsbury homered off Scott Proctor (0-2) after a single and a walk.
Franklin Morales (1-1) pitched two innings for the win. Felix Doubront, recalled on Sept. 1, finished the 5-hour, 11-minute game for his first save since August 2010.
In the opener, A.J. Burnett (11-11) made his most impressive start in nearly three months and Jorge Posada hit a two-run homer for the Yankees. Ellsbury connected twice to become the first player in Red Sox history to reach 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in a season.
Tim Wakefield (7-8) dropped to 1-5 in his last 10 starts.
Derek Jeter had three hits to lift his average to .300 at the end of the game for the first time since April 2.

Rays 5, Blue Jays 2
In St Petersburg, Florida, B.J. Upton and Ben Zobrist homered in the first inning to back Wade Davis, (11-10) in Tampa Bay’s win over Toronto.
Evan Longoria and Kelly Shoppach also homered for the Rays, who have closed the gap with Boston despite going 14-10 in September. Joel Peralta finished for his sixth save in eight chances.

Athletics 6, Angels 5
In Anaheim, California, rookie closer Jordan Walden (5-3) wasted a 5-2 lead in the ninth inning, throwing away a potential game-ending grounder in Oaklands’s win over Los Angeles.
The defeat left the Angels 3 games behind Boston and two games back of Tampa Bay.
But Josh Willingham homered leading off the ninth and, after a pair of singles, Walden threw Adam Rosales’ comebacker past shortstop Erick Aybar and into center. Kurt Suzuki followed with a tying double, and Coco Crisp’s second sacrifice fly put the A’s ahead.

Rangers 12, Mariners 5
In Arlington, Texas, Yorvit Torrealba homered in consecutive innings, including a grand slam, after Derek Holland (16-5) pitched his scheduled five innings in a postseason tuneup.
Adrian Beltre and Ian Kinsler also homered for the Rangers, who matched a franchise record with their 52nd win at home.
Texas stayed a game ahead of Detroit for the second-best record in the AL and homefield advantage in the first round. Charlie Furbush (4-10) was the loser.

Tigers 10, Orioles 6
In Detroit, Miguel Cabrera homered and singled to raise his average to .341 in his push for the AL batting title, then left because of lightheadedness as Detroit downed Baltimore.
Brad Penny (11-11) allowed three runs and five hits in 5 1-3 innings for the win.
Brian Matusz (1-9) gave up six runs and seven hits in five innings. Assuming he doesn’t pitch again this year, Matusz will finish with a 10.69 ERA, a record high for a pitcher with at least 40 innings in a season, according to STATS.

Twins 6, Indians 4
In Cleveland, Rene Tosoni led off the 10th inning with a home run off Tony Sipp (6-3) to give Kyle Waldrop (1-0) his first career win. Chris Parmelee added an RBI single later in the inning.
Cleveland had a four-game winning streak snapped. The crowd got a surprise in the ninth when 41-year-old Jim Thome made what could be his last appearance at Progressive Field — as a third baseman, a position he had not played since 1996.

Royals 2, White Sox 1
In Chicago, Luis Mendoza (2-0) allowed one run and five hits in 7 2-3 innings, Jarrod Dyson hit a two-run double and Kansas City sent Chicago to its 11th loss in 15 games, ensuring the third losing record for the White Sox in eight seasons under manager Ozzie Guillen.
Gavin Floyd (12-13) matched his season high with 10 strikeouts and held Kansas City to two runs and three hits in eight innings. Greg Holland struck four in his fourth save.

National League
In St Louis, Rafael Furcal hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning as the St Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 3-2 to pull within one game of Atlanta in the National League wild-card race.
St Louis trailed the Braves by 10-1/2 games on Aug 26, but the Cardinals have won 15 of their last 20.

Nationals 3, Braves 0
In Washington, the top four hitters in Atlanta’s lineup, including Chipper Jones and Dan Uggla, went a combined 0 for 16 with five strikeouts in a loss to Washington.
The Braves have dropped 10 of their past 15 games.
Wilson Ramos homered off Atlanta starter Mike Minor (5-3) in the fourth, and Michael Morse hit the 29th of his breakout season — a two-run shot — off reliever Cristhian Martinez in the seventh.

Phillies 9, Mets 4
In New York, Roy Halladay, Hunter Pence and the Philadelphia ended their eight-game losing streak, looking playoff-ready in every way by routing New York.
Playing their regular lineup for the first time since clinching the NL East, the Phillies posted their major league-leading 99th victory. Pence homered during a three-run first inning, each starter had a hit by the third and Carlos Ruiz’s single made it 9-0 in the fourth.

Brewers 9, Marlins 5
In Milwaukee, Ryan Braun homered and raised his NL-best batting average to .333, lifting Milwaukee over Florida for its team-record 55th victory at home.
Every position player had a hit for the NL Central champions before the first out of the third as the Brewers swept the season series from the Marlins (7-0) for the first time since 1998.
Braun finished 2 for 3 before leaving after the fifth and leads Mets shortstop Jose Reyes (.331) for the batting title.

Diamondbacks 5, Giants 2
In Phoenix, Miguel Montero hit a two-run double to support Josh Collmenter’s seven strong innings and Arizona beat San Francisco for a three-game sweep. Aaron Hill and Colin Cowgill also had run-scoring hits for the Diamondbacks, who have won six of seven.

Dodgers 6, Padres 2
In San Diego, Clayton Kershaw earned his 21st win, taking a two-hitter into the eighth inning to make his final case for the NL Cy Young pitching award as Los Angeles defeated San Diego.
Kershaw (21-5) tied Arizona’s Ian Kennedy for the NL lead in wins and increased his league-leading strikeout total to 248 in his final start of the season. His NL-best ERA rose slightly to 2.28 as he extended his career-high winning streak to eight games.

Rockies 19, Astros 3
In Houston, Colorado set a team record with 25 hits, Kevin Kouzmanoff and Chris Iannetta each drove in five runs and the Rockies routed Houston.
Jordan Pacheco, Ty Wigginton and Tommy Field had four hits each for the Rockies, who broke the previous team mark of 24, accomplished most recently in a 16-4 win at Pittsburgh on Aug 2, 2003.

Reds 5, Pirates 4
At Pittsburgh, Dontrelle Willis allowed three hits in six innings and had a two-run double to pick up his first win of the season as Cincinnati beat Pittsburgh.
Willis (1-6) gave up three runs and struck out six to finally break through in his 13th and final start of the season. Francisco Cordero worked an eventful ninth for his 35th save.