CHICAGO - David Ortiz finally leaves the Central and still finds a way to haunt the White Sox.
Ortiz homered in consecutive at-bats Wednesday night, including a shot in the 10th to give the Boston Red Sox a 5-4 victory over Chicago.
The White Sox dropped into a first-place tie with Minnesota in the Central.
"He definitely does some damage against us," Frank Thomas said of Ortiz. "We have to keep fighting. We just need to win by one game."
Ortiz spent the previous five seasons with the Twins. He was brutal to the White Sox when he was there, hitting .375 against them last season and .353 lifetime.
He may have moved to Boston as a free agent, but he still knows how to give Chicago fits. He went 3-for-5 with four RBIs Wednesday night, matching his career and season highs.
"The guy's having a great season, and today made it even better," Boston manager Grady Little said. "He's a good kid, he's a good teammate and he means a lot to this ballclub."
Manny Ramirez showed how much he means to the Red Sox, too. In the lineup a day after being benched, he went 2-for-4 with a run and made a great defensive play in the ninth.
Ramirez missed the weekend series against the Yankees with a severe sore throat, yet was spotted out Saturday night. Then when Little asked him to pinch hit Monday, Ramirez said he was "too weak."
Ramirez drew a leadoff walk off Scott Sullivan in the eighth, and Ortiz followed with a home run to give Boston the 4-3 lead.
Jose Valentin bailed out Sullivan with a leadoff homer in the eighth off Mike Timlin, and the White Sox had a chance to win in the ninth. Thomas singled with one out, and Aaron Rowand came in to run.
Magglio Ordonez hit a grounder down the leftfield line that rolled to the wall. Third-base coach Bruce Kimm sent Rowand, but Ramirez made a perfect throw to Nomar Garciaparra, whose relay beat Rowand by 5 feet.
BLUE JAYS 4, YANKEES 3: Josh Phelps hit a two-run homer and Eric Hinske hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the seventh as host Toronto rallied from a three-run deficit.
Phelps hit a two-run homer in the fourth off Mike Mussina that cut New York's lead to 3-2. Phelps has homered in four of his past five games.
Bobby Kielty hit a tying sacrifice fly in the sixth. After Vernon Wells singled off Antonio Osuna in the seventh, Myers doubled off Gabe White. Phelps was intentionally walked and Hinske hit his sacrifice fly.
TWINS 6, ANGELS 5: Catcher Bengie Molina failed to hold onto a throw with two outs in the ninth, an error that let in two runs for host Minnesota.
Troy Percival, who hadn't given up a run in 37 innings against the Twins, walked Justin Morneau with two outs.
Shannon Stewart followed with a hard shot down the leftfield line. Garret Anderson's throw home beat pinch-runner Dustan Mohr, but Mohr collided with Molina, who couldn't hold onto the ball. Stewart came home with the winning run as the ball rolled down the first-base line.
ORIOLES 9, A'S 0: Rodrigo Lopez pitched a seven-hitter as host Baltimore battered Tim Hudson and ended Oakland's 10-game winning streak. The A's committed a season-high five errors, and Hudson was pulled after three innings, his shortest stint of the season.
ROYALS 3, RANGERS 1: Rookie Jimmy Gobble pitched seven solid innings as visiting Kansas City snapped a four-game losing streak. Mike Sweeney, Joe Randa and Carlos Beltran had RBIs in a three-run fourth.
TIGERS 6, INDIANS 5 (11): Shane Halter hit a leadoff homer in the 11th to give host Detroit its second straight win. Fernando Rodney couldn't hold Cleveland's 4-3 lead, allowing three hits in the ninth, including a tying single by Ben Broussard.
