Baseball

Angels rule again in West

OAKLAND, Calif. - The Los Angeles Angels are going back to the playoffs, and this season they'll have plenty of time to get ready.

Bengie Molina homered and Ervin Santana pitched 62/3 strong innings, helping the Angels clinch the West title with a 4-3 victory over the Athletics on Tuesday night.

Los Angeles won the opener of a four-game series Monday, then came back from an early one-run deficit Tuesday to eliminate the A's from postseason contention.

Now the Angels get to relax a bit during their final five games and wait as four other teams fight for the three remaining playoff spots. Last season, they won the West by beating Oakland on the final weekend.

Santana won his third straight start, and the free-swinging Angels reached the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history.

Juan Rivera added a run-scoring double and Robb Quinlan and Chone Figgins had run-scoring singles as the Angels won the fifth division title in club history with their 10th win in 11 games.

Jays keep Bosox from taking over

BOSTON - The Red Sox split their day-night doubleheader with the Toronto Blue Jays and grabbed a share, but just a share, of first place in the East.

Russ Adams hit a sacrifice fly to break an eighth-inning tie and lead Toronto to a 7-5 victory in the nightcap after Boston won the day game 3-1. New York and Boston are tied with five games left.

The Red Sox and Yankees also are tied with Cleveland atop the wild-card standings. Tuesday's results guaranteed that the East title will be up for grabs when New York comes to Fenway Park for a three-game series this weekend to close the season.

Frank Catalanotto had four hits and Adams had two to go with sacrifice flies in the eighth and ninth innings to snap Boston's four-game winning streak. Five relievers combined for 52/3 scoreless innings.

Tim Wakefield pitched seven strong innings for Boston in the opener.

ORIOLES 17, YANKEES 9: Gary Sheffield hit two homers and drove in six for New York, but Mike Mussina and the bullpen had a dreadful pitching performance as host Baltimore ended a nine-game losing streak in an ugly game that lasted 4 hours, 16 minutes.

Miguel Tejada's run-scoring single and Jay Gibbons' two-run homer off Al Leiter in the fourth put Baltimore in front for good, and the Orioles scored five off three relievers in the fifth to make it 13-7.

TIGERS 3, WHITE SOX 2: Omar Infante and Craig Monroe homered and host Detroit handed first-place Chicago another costly loss.

The White Sox failed to take advantage of the Indians' loss to the Devil Rays and maintained a two-game lead in the Central.

TWINS 3, ROYALS 1: Johan Santana allowed six hits in seven innings, and host Minnesota snapped its four-game losing streak.

RANGERS 3, MARINERS 2 (11): Estaban German, in his first at-bat of the season, doubled home Mark Teixeira from first base with one out in the 11th inning to lift visiting Texas.

[Last modified September 28, 2005, 02:30:38]