CHICAGO — Clay Buchholz missed a chance for a complete game victory Monday night. The Boston Red Sox righthander didn’t seem to mind.
Buchholz scattered five hits over eight solid innings in a 6-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
“Everything fell right into place,” said Buchholz (17-7), who struck out five and walked one. “It’s been pretty fun this season and I’ve got one more start.”
A Red Sox loss would have locked up playoff spots for the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees. Instead, Boston took an early lead, pulled away and stayed mathematically alive in the wild-card race while the Rays and Yankees lost.
The magic number remains at one for the Rays and Yankees to reach the postseason.
David Ortiz, Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre each drove in two runs. Beltre had four hits and Marco Scutaro had three and scored three times as Boston won the opener of a four-game series.
Buchholz never gave up more than one hit in any inning, and had trouble in only one when he had runners on second and third with no outs in the third.
“Boy he was sure good,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “All his pitches he threw for strikes. It was fun to watch.”
Mark Buehrle (12-13) gave up 11 hits in six innings, taking his third straight loss even as he hit 200 innings pitched for the 10th straight season.
“Buehrle was struggling today,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “That’s a pretty good hitting lineup and they’re going to hurt you.”
Martinez extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a single to center in the first inning. Beltre doubled off the wall and both came home on Ortiz’ two-out double which skipped past Paul Konerko down the first base line.
Martinez had a sacrifice fly in the third inning RBI that scored Scutaro, who led off the inning with a double down the third base line.
The White Sox had runners on second and third with no outs in the third but failed to score after leadoff batter Juan Pierre struck out and Omar Vizquel grounded to Buchholz.
In the fifth, the Red Sox had two runners on and one out for Beltre, who drove home Scutaro with a single to left for a 4-0 lead.
White Sox third baseman Brent Morel broke the shutout in the fifth with a deep sacrifice fly that scored A.J. Pierzynski. Three White Sox tagged Buchholz for deep flies in he seventh, all caught at the warning track.
Beltre doubled home Martinez in the ninth to extend the Red Sox lead to 6-1.
Ortiz’s two RBIs gave him 100 for the season and Beltre’s two gave him 101.
“It’s always nice to get 100 RBIs and to help the team out,” Beltre said. “But a good year would have been better if everyone would have been healthy.”
Blue Jays 7, Yankees 5
TORONTO — Vernon Wells hit a three-run homer, John Buck added a solo shot and Toronto pounded A.J. Burnett, then held on for a victory over New York.
Toronto assured itself of at least a .500 finish and temporarily denied the Yankees the chance to clinch a playoff berth.
Mark Teixeira hit a three-run homer and Curtis Granderson added a two-run drive for the Yankees, who have lost five of six.
The Blue Jays lead the major leagues with 243 home runs this season, one shy of the team record set in 2000.
Toronto left-hander Marc Rzepczynski (3-4) allowed two runs and four hits in five innings to win back-to-back starts for the first time this season. He walked three and matched a career high with nine strikeouts.
Kevin Gregg closed it out in the ninth for his 36th save in 41 chances.
Burnett (10-15), who has lost seven of his past 11 starts, allowed seven runs and seven hits in 2 1-3 innings, his second shortest start of the year. The right-hander, who walked one and struck out one, is 0-3 with a 9.61 ERA in four starts against his former team this season.
Orioles 4, Rays 0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Brian Matusz pitched seven impressive innings and Nick Markakis drove in two runs with a triple and a single, leading Baltimore over AL East-leading Tampa Bay.
Matusz (9-12) allowed three hits, two of them infield singles. The rookie walked one, hit a batter with a pitch and matched a career high with eight strikeouts before being replaced by Jim Johnson.
The Rays’ magic number to clinch their second playoff berth in three years remained at one. They retained a half-game lead in the division over the New York Yankees, who lost 7-5 in Toronto. The potential clincher drew a crowd of just 12,446 to Tropicana Field — well below the 23,047 Tampa Bay has averaged this season.
Markakis had an RBI triple off rookie Wade Davis (13-9) in the fifth inning. The Orioles scored three times in the seventh, with Markakis and Luke Scott delivering run-scoring singles and Ty Wigginton adding a sacrifice fly.
Mariners 7, Rangers 5
ARLINGTON, Texas — Justin Smoak homered and had three hits, David Pauley pitched six effective innings, and Seattle edged AL West champion Texas.
Pauley (4-8) allowed two runs and eight hits, struck out three and walked two.
Entering Monday night’s start, the Mariners had scored only 18 runs this season in Pauley’s first 13 starts. This time, his teammates provided him with six runs.
Pauley is winless in six home decisions, but is 4-2 on the road.
Brandon League pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save in 11 chances.
Smoak, traded to the Mariners by the Rangers on July 9 in the deal that sent left-hander Cliff Lee to Texas, hit a towering three-run shot to left in the fifth off C.J. Wilson (14-8) that extended Seattle’s lead to 6-1.
Indians 6, Tigers 3
CLEVELAND — Andres Galarraga went from unhittable to giving up three homers in an 18-pitch span and Cleveland beat Detroit.
The Tigers lost slugger Miguel Cabrera to an apparent right ankle injury. He landed awkwardly on the bag while getting back to first base on a pickoff attempt in the seventh inning. Cabrera limped from the field and was taken for X-rays.
The first baseman and MVP candidate leads the majors with 126 RBIs, is tied for second in the AL with 38 homers and is third with a .328 batting average.
Galarraga (5-8) didn’t give up a hit until Matt LaPorta hit a 412-foot homer to center leading off the fifth. One out later, Luke Carlin homered to right. Travis Hafner hit a three-run shot with two outs for a 5-2 lead.
Carlos Carrasco (2-1) got the win despite allowing 11 hits and three runs over six innings.
Chris Perez pitched a perfect ninth for his 22nd save in 26 tries.
Royals 10, Twins 8
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jarrod Dyson hit his first major league home run and caught 10 fly balls in center field, helping Kansas City beat Minnesota.
Jason Kubel homered, doubled and drove in five runs for the AL Central champion Twins.
Dyson, a September call-up who was a 20th-round draft pick in 2006, snapped an 0-for-15 skid with a two-run homer in a six-run second off Kevin Slowey.
Dyson also tied a team record for putouts by an outfielder. Amos Otis (1979) and Carlos Beltran (1998) also had 10 each.
Josh Fields hit a two-run homer and rookie Lucas May drove in three runs for Kansas City.
Reliever Philip Humber (2-1) picked up the win and Joakim Soria earned his 42nd save. Jeff Manship (2-1) took the loss for the Twins.