BOSTON - Tim Wakefield finished off the Tigers on Sunday. Now comes the real challenge for the streaking Red Sox.
Boston beat Detroit 6-1, ending a stretch of 26 games - 23 against teams below .500 at the time - in which the Red Sox won 20. Next up: consecutive three-game home series against Anaheim and Texas, their closest pursuers in the AL wild-card race.
But at this rate, the Red Sox might not have to worry about the wild card. Boston might just catch the Yankees in the division.
"I think we can beat any team right now," outfielder Johnny Damon said after the four-game sweep. "Our team is rising up."
Sunday's win and New York's 6-4 loss in Toronto cut the Yankees' East lead to 41/2 games - the closest Boston's been to first since June 23. But Alex Rodriguez, who went 4-for-4 with a home run and a walk for the Yankees, doesn't seem concerned.
"They are playing extremely well, but we're in the driver's seat," Rodriguez said. "This game is about runs and they are in the best run of the year."
Carlos Delgado homered off New York's Mike Mussina in Toronto's five-run seventh inning as the Blue Jays ended a five-game skid and avoided a four-game sweep. Mussina (9-8) remained winless in four starts since coming back from an elbow injury that sidelined him for nearly six weeks. He gave up five runs and five hits in 61/3 innings.
"I just didn't do it. That's the frustrating part," Mussina said. "I pitched well for six innings, but it looks like I didn't pitch well at all when it's all said and done."
The Yankees have gotten one win from their starting pitchers in the past 15 games.
Wakefield, meanwhile, allowed three hits in eight innings as Boston won its sixth straight and 11th of 12.
"My concentration was a lot better," he said "I mixed in my breaking ball and my fastball a little bit more this time."
The Red Sox scored four runs in the fifth off Wilfredo Ledezma (3-2) and two in the seventh on Mark Bellhorn's 14th homer.
"We've all known the whole year that we can do this," Bellhorn said of the team's surge. "You want to get hot in the end."
Wakefield's performance capped a series that featured brilliant pitching by the Red Sox, who outscored the Tigers 20-6.
"Coming here or anywhere else, when you score that many runs in four games, you're going to lose," Detroit manager Alan Trammell said.
