The Associated Press

BOSTON - Kevin Millar homered and drove in four runs to lead the Red Sox over the New York Yankees.

The victory was a treat for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch then stood and cheered several times as he watched his home-state team from a box next to the Red Sox dugout.

Derek Lowe (9-9) pitched one of his best games in a subpar season, helping the Red Sox take two of three in the series and pull to 7 1/2 games behind the AL East-leading Yankees. Boston leads the season series 8-5 with six games remaining.

Jose Contreras (8-4) struggled again against the Red Sox, allowing eighth runs in 5 1/3 innings. He fell to 0-4 in his career against Boston.

There were three hit batsmen Sunday, a day after a bench-clearing brawl. New York's Jorge Posada in the first and Boston's Doug Mirabelli and Millar in the second. All three runners went to first base without incident.

Indians 5, Royals 1

CLEVELAND - Pitching and defense put the Cleveland Indians over .500 Sunday.

Jake Westbrook pitched a six-hitter, helped by infielders Ronnie Belliard, Omar Vizquel and Casey Blake, and the Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 5-1 to move above .500 for the first time since the start of the 2003 season.

"Those plays were huge," Westbrook said. "Ronnie's play was unbelievable. Omar and Casey took away sure hits, too."

Westbrook (8-5) allowed one unearned run in his fourth complete game of the season, and rookie Grady Sizemore hit his first major-league homer. Westbrook improved to 6-0 with a 2.34 ERA at Jacobs Field this season.

The Indians (50-49) took a 4-0 lead in the first inning and won for the eighth time in 11 games to surpass .500 for the first time since they were 2-1 on April 3, 2003.

"I'm happy for these guys because it is definitely a big stage," manager Eric Wedge said. "But we have to keep it going."

Athletics 9, Rangers 2

OAKLAND, Calif. - Eric Chavez and Mark Kotsay both homered for the second straight day, and Rich Harden made another impressive start for Oakland. Eric Byrnes and Erubiel Durazo also homered for the A's, who took two of three games and cut first-place Texas' division lead to 2 1/2 games.

Mariners 6, Angels 2

SEATTLE - Dave Hansen and Bucky Jacobsen homered to back Joel Pineiro, and Seattle took advantage of Kevin Gregg's record-tying wildness. Gregg threw four wild pitches in the eighth inning, tying the post-1900 major-league regular-season record, set by Walter Johnson in 1914 and matched by Phil Niekro in 1979.

Tigers 9, White Sox 2

CHICAGO - Marcus Thames hit his first career grand slam and Detroit overcame the ejections of starter Jeremy Bonderman and manager Alan Trammell. Carlos Guillen had three singles - he was 8-for-13 in the series - as the Tigers avoided a three-game sweep and knocked the White Sox out of first place in the AL Central.

Blue Jays 5, Devil Rays 3

TORONTO - Carlos Delgado hit a three-run homer to become the first Toronto player to drive in 1,000 runs, and David Bush earned his first major-league win. Toronto completed a three-game sweep of the Devil Rays.

Twins 8, Orioles 4

BALTIMORE - Justin Morneau had three hits, including a long three-run homer, and Minnesota roughed up rookie Daniel Cabrera. Mike Cuddyer also homered and had three hits for the Twins, who won a third straight series.