Wakefield gets 200th as Red Sox win

Tim Wakefield earned his 200th win on his eighth try, Dustin Pedroia hit two homers in Boston's highest-scoring game of the season and the host Red Sox ended a five-game losing streak with an 18-6 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays Tuesday night.

The Red Sox needed the victory badly after their lead in the AL wild-card race over Tampa Bay had dropped from nine games to three in the previous nine days. And the 45-year-old knuckleballer was eager to end the long wait -- 0-3 in seven outings since his last win July 24 -- to become the 108th pitcher with 200 wins.

Wakefield (7-6) went six innings and overcame a shaky outing to retire his last six batters. He left with a 6-5 lead after allowing six hits and two walks.

The crowd at Fenway Park clapped and chanted "Wakefield! Wakefield!" as Junichi Tazawa pitched the ninth for Boston, which moved four games in front of the Rays.

Pedroia, who was 4-for-5 and tied his career high with five RBIs, was on the tail end of consecutive homers with Jacoby Ellsbury in the fourth.

Ellsbury also had four hits and Carl Crawford had three as Boston finished with 18.

Orioles 4, Rays 2: Matt Wieters hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning as host Baltimore blunted Tampa Bay's playoff push.

Evan Longoria homered for the Rays, whose five-game winning streak ended.

-- AP