Yankees Beat Blue Jays, Close to Within 7 Games of Red Sox

Roger Clemens allowed nine hits, one walk and one earned run in six innings for the surging Yankees. (AP Images)

The lead is seven.

Alex Rodriguez hit a go-ahead double in the seventh inning and the surging New York Yankees won their fifth straight game, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 6-1 on Wednesday night. Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox dropped another game to the lowly Kansas City Royals, meaning the arch-rivals are separated by only seven games in the American League East.

Roger Clemens pitched out of trouble for six gritty innings to keep New York close, and Andy Phillips delivered another clutch hit as the Yankees (48-44) moved a season-high four games above .500.

Mariano Rivera entered in the eighth and got five outs for his fourth save in five days.

By winning 11 of 14 overall, the Yankees have trimmed Boston's AL East lead and moved to the closest they've been to first place since May 12. They also gave manager Joe Torre a nice 67th birthday present.

Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu started the seventh-inning rally that got Yankee Stadium rocking for one of the few times all season. Eager for a second-half comeback and perhaps sensing the momentum building, the crowd of 52,147 chanted "MVP! MVP!" for Rodriguez as he stood at second after his big hit.

New York has won 17 of its last 22 home games. The Yankees were -193 favorites on the moneyline (meaning a winning wager of $193 would net a $100 profit).

In other early American League action:

Boston 6, Kansas City 5: Billy Butler doubled in the go-ahead run in a four-run fifth inning and the Royals battered Julian Tavarez and the Red Sox, who lost two of three at Fenway Park and saw their lead in the AL East shrink by another game over the hated Yankees. After managing just one hit in the first three innings, the Royals scored twice in the fourth, then went ahead 6-4 in the fifth when they chased Tavarez after his third straight poor performance. In his last five starts, Tavarez is 0-4 with a 7.71 ERA and has allowed 42 hits in 23 1-3 innings. He didn't make it past the fifth inning in four of those outings. In his previous seven starts, he was 3-0 with a 3.07 ERA and gave up 37 hits in 44 innings. The Red Sox are 3-7 since July 5, when their lead was 12 games. Nine of their last 11 losses have been by one run. Kansas City was a +176 underdog.

Oakland 6, Texas 0: Lenny DiNardo pitched seven shutout innings to help the host A's end a nine-game skid, their longest losing streak in nine years. It was DiNardo's most dominating performance of the season and came in his second start since replacing Rich Harden in Oakland's rotation after the righthander was placed on the disabled list July 12 with a strained throwing shoulder. Bobby Crosby homered and drove in two runs for Oakland, a -127 favorite.

Chicago White Sox 5, Cleveland 1: Mark Buehrle beat the Indians for the first time in more than two years and Paul Konerko hit a two-run homer, leading the visiting White Sox, who won two of three in the series. Chicago was a +126 underdog. Buehrle (7-5) had been winless in his previous eight starts against the Indians, last defeating them on July 16, 2005.

Tampa Bay 7, Los Angeles Angels 2: Ty Wigginton homered and Carlos Pena hit a three-run double to back Scott Kazmir's strong pitching, leading the Devil Rays at home. Kazmir (7-6) allowed three hits and one run in seven innings to win for the second straight time at home after going more than a year without a victory at Tropicana Field. The lefthander walked one and struck out six in his longest outing since going seven innings in a loss at Kansas City on June 1. Tampa Bay paid -102 straight up.

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