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"I've been gone for years already," Ortiz said, insisting there's no hard feelings about being let go. "In this business, sometimes you're right and sometimes you're wrong. One thing I would say about the Twins organization is I always thank them for giving me the opportunity to come play at this level."

BOX SCORE: Rays 2, Royals 1

Ortiz hit a two-run homer in the sixth and finished a triple shy of the cycle. Jarrod Saltalamacchia added a homer and two RBI to help the Red Sox win for the fifth time in seven games and move 1 games ahead of the idle Yankees in the AL East.

Ortiz debuted with the Twins in 1997, but injuries prevented him from realizing his full potential, so the Twins let him leave after 2002. It wasn't until he arrived in Boston in 2003 that he blossomed, becoming "Big Papi," one of the most feared hitters in the game.

 

A considerable contingent of Red Sox fans started with the chants of "Let's go Red Sox!" in the sixth, and it appeared to wake up their team. Carl Crawford led off with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly from Adrian Gonzalez. Ortiz hit a two-run homer and Saltalamacchia made it back-to-back with a solo shot that tied it 5-5.

In the eighth, Ortiz lumbered down the third baseline, and Mauer may have taken the eye off shortstop Matt Tolbert's throw because it skipped off the tip of his glove and allowed Ortiz to score.

"He heard the big elephant coming," Ortiz said with a hearty laugh. "He was shaking when I was coming."

Alfredo Aceves (8-1) gave up one run in an inning in relief of Tim Wakefield for the victory. Wakefield gave up five runs — three earned — and eight hits with five strikeouts. But he missed out on victory No. 200 for the third straight start when Aceves gave up the game-tying single to Kubel in the eighth.

"The last three starts, we've won two out of three of them," Wakefield said. "So that's the most important thing is keeping our lead in the American League East right now."

Glen Perkins (3-2) gave up two runs — one earned — in 1 ⅔ innings to take the loss. He left with the game tied and a runner on second, but Joe Nathan gave up a single to Ortiz and an RBI-double to Saltalamacchia to let the game slip away.

Scott Baker gave up five runs and nine hits with five strikeouts in six innings for the Twins.

After a four-hour, 15-minute grinder against the Yankees on Sunday night, the Red Sox didn't arrive at their Minneapolis hotel until just before 5 a.m. Their legs looked a little heavy and their bats a little slow in the early going as they tried to shake the cobwebs for yet another nationally televised game.

He's been making the Twins pay ever since. In 42 career games against them, Ortiz is hitting .327 with 11 homers and 31 RBI.

Marco Scutaro chipped in three hits for Boston and Jonathan Papelbon worked a perfect ninth for his 25th save.

Jason Kubel had a homer among his three hits and two RBI for the Twins, who have lost five in a row.

Rangers 9, Mariners 2

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Matt Harrison pitched seven strong innings for his career-high 10th victory, Nelson Cruz homered, and the Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners.

Harrison (10-8) allowed two runs and five hits with six strikeouts and no walks in 104-degree heat, surpassing his nine-win rookie season in 2008.

Cruz, Mitch Moreland and Yorvit Torrealba all had three hits for the AL West-leading Rangers, who stretched their lead over second-place Los Angeles to 1 ½ games. The Angels had the night off.

The Rangers scored twice in the second against rookie Charlie Furbush (1-1) with the help of the Mariners' second error of the night.

Rays 2, Royals 1

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Casey Kotchman led off the ninth inning with a home run to lift the Tampa Bay to a win over Kansas City.

Kotchman drove the first pitch from Blake Wood (5-1) over the center field fence. He also knocked in the other Tampa Bay run with a run-scoring single that tied it in the seventh.

Rays closer Kyle Farnsworth (4-1) pitched a perfect ninth to earn the win.

Rays rookie Jeremy Hellickson, 3-0 in four starts during July, gave up one run and six hits in 7 ⅓ innings. He struck out seven and walked three.

Tampa Bay tied it at 1 in the seventh when Ben Zobrist drew a one-out walk, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Kotchman's single.

White Sox 7, Orioles 6

BALTIMORE (AP) — A.J. Pierzynski homered and drove in three runs, Alex Rios singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, and Chicago beat Baltimore for their fourth consecutive victory.

Gordon Beckham also connected for the White Sox, who blew a four-run lead before rallying to secure their season-high sixth consecutive win on the road. Third-place Chicago moved within five games of the lead in the AL Central.

After J.J. Hardy hit a three-run homer in the seventh off Jesse Crain (6-3) to put Baltimore up 6-5, the White Sox regained the lead against Jim Johnson (5-4). Paul Konerko walked, Carlos Quentin singled and Pierzynski hit a sacrifice fly to tie it. Rios then singled to score Quentin.

Whether it was launching a home run nearly 440 feet into the stands in right-center field or barreling down the third base line to strike fear into catcher Joe Mauer, the Boston Red Sox slugger put his finger prints all over his latest victory over his former team.