CLEVELAND - Bill Mueller had no reason to sit at his locker and brood Wednesday night.
Mueller hit a tiebreaking three-run homer, David Ortiz homered twice and the Boston Red Sox broke a five-game losing streak with a 9-5 win over the Indians.
"I was very fortunate that the ball I hit carried and gave us a cushion," said Mueller, who blamed himself for a 7-6 loss the previous night when he made two crucial throwing errors.
Mueller sat alone at his locker for 45 minutes after that loss but was much more upbeat Wednesday.
"This club knows it is going to perform," Mueller said. "Hopefully, this is the start of what we're capable of doing."
Former Hernando High standout Bronson Arroyo gave up one hit and struck out three over two scoreless innings of relief for the win, which snapped Cleveland's four-game winning streak.
Mueller snapped a tie at 5 with his homer off reliever David Riske in the sixth.
It was his fourth hit in 32 at-bats with runners in scoring position this season. The defending batting champion was dropped from second to eighth in the order Tuesday night by manager Terry Francona and has gone 4-for-7 since to improve his average to .257.
"If he had been hitting second, he'd probably have gotten hits, too," Francona said. "I just did it because I thought it would relax him a little."
Ortiz homered twice and drove in four against former Northeast High standout Jeff D'Amico to give the Red Sox a rare early lead.
BLUE JAYS 10, ROYALS 3: Vernon Wells homered twice and tied a career high with five RBIs, and Roy Halladay pitched seven strong innings on three days' rest for Toronto.
Wells, who entered hitting .228 with one home run and seven RBIs, hit a run-scoring grounder in the first, a three-run homer in the second and a shot in the fourth.
Staked to a 7-0 lead in the second, Halladay won his third straight start, allowing three runs on 11 hits while striking out four and walking none in seven innings. He's 4-0 with a 1.50 ERA on three days' rest, including 3-0 in three starts last season.
The Blue Jays improved to 3-9 at SkyDome, the worst home record in the majors.
Brian Anderson lost his third straight start for Kansas City, losers of 16 of 20.
WHITE SOX 6, ORIOLES 5: Juan Uribe's triple keyed a seventh-inning rally, and Billy Koch and visiting Chicago survived a wild ninth.
Down 6-4, Baltimore loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth against Koch.
After Javy Lopez hit a sacrifice fly, Jay Gibbons grounded into a forceout that moved the tying run to third. But Koch retired Luis Matos on a tapper to first for his fifth save.
Late Tuesday
MARINERS 4, TWINS 3 (16): Seattle would rather win in nine innings.
Randy Winn scored on Scott Spiezio's grounder in the 16th to lift the host Mariners in the longest game in the majors this season.
"I don't like 'em," Spiezio said. "But if we've got to play 'em, I'd rather win 'em. I hope we don't have to play too many more of those. Win a whole bunch of games in nine and forget about these 16- and 14-inning games."
Winn scored the winner with none out when Spiezio hit a ground ball to drawn-in first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, whose throw to catcher Henry Blanco was too late to get a sliding Winn.
Minnesota tied the score at 3 against its former closer, Eddie Guardado, in the ninth on Torii Hunter's double.
