Red Sox lose, fall into wild-card tie

BALTIMORE -- The Boston Red Sox found another way to lose, this time on a broken-bat single and an inside-the-park homer, and their 6-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles Monday night dropped them into a tie in the AL wild-card race.

The Red Sox led the Rays by nine games entering Sept. 4. But the Rays -- who beat the Yankees, 5-2, last night -- have gone 14-8 and the Red Sox have gone 5-17 since then, leaving the teams tied with two games to go.

With the score 2-all in the sixth inning, Boston starter Josh Beckett (13-7) allowed four runs in an uprising that began with Vladimir Guerrero becoming the career hits leader among Dominican-born players.

Guerrero broke a tie with Julio Franco by bouncing a single up the middle, his 2,587th career hit. Guerrero, 36, then stole second base, and after a two-out walk to Mark Reynolds, Chris Davis broke his bat hitting a soft liner to right that brought home the go-ahead run.

Robert Andino followed with a long fly to center that Jacoby Ellsbury had in his glove before crashing into the wall. Andino sprinted around the bases and made it home as the relay throw bounced past catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Boston loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, but Pedro Strop struck out Saltalamacchia and Marco Scutaro grounded out. Dustin Pedroia singled home a run in the ninth, but the Red Sox stranded two runners.