Loretta clutch as Red Sox edge Indians

BOSTON --Mark Loretta doubled with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and the Boston Red Sox took advantage of a meltdown by reliever Fausto Carmona to beat the Cleveland Indians 6-5 on Wednesday night.

Cleveland led 3-0 after one inning and were ahead 5-4 after eight, but Carmona couldn't deliver the Indians their first save since closer Bob Wickman was traded to Atlanta on July 20. He struck out the first two batters before hitting Doug Mirabelli and Alex Gonzalez on consecutive pitches, then walking Kevin Youkilis on a 3-2 pitch that wasn't close.

With reigning AL player of the month David Ortiz waiting on deck, Loretta looped one off the Green Monster to give Boston its third last at-bat victory in five games. The others came thanks to Ortiz, who hit a game-ending single to beat Los Angeles on Saturday, and a three-run homer off Carmona on Monday. Ortiz struck out four times Wednesday.

Jonathan Papelbon (3-1) earned the victory with a perfect ninth.

Cleveland took a 3-0 lead off Boston starter Jon Lester, but the Red Sox came back with two in the fifth and went ahead on solo homers by Manny Ramirez and Wily Mo Pena in the sixth. Travis Hafner hit a two-run homer in the eighth to give the Indians the 5-4 lead.

The Red Sox kept pace in the AL East with the New York Yankees, who beat Toronto 7-2 on Wednesday and remained percentage points ahead in the division.

Temperatures that reached 100 degrees during the day had cooled off to 82 by game time, but the Red Sox were taking no chances. They made batting practice optional for the players and provided "rain rooms" where fans could cool off.

The team also set up tables giving out free cups of water to keep fans from getting dehydrated.

But Lester barely had a chance to get warm before giving the Indians a 3-0 lead. Grady Sizemore led off with a triple and Jason Michaels walked; Hafner hit a sacrifice fly and, after Michaels was caught stealing on a pickoff, Victor Martinez homered.

Casey Blake and Jhonny Peralta singled before Hector Luna popped up to end the inning.

Things weren't going much better for Lester in the second when Kelly Shoppach doubled and Andy Marte hit a deep drive to center that Coco Crisp chased down at the 379 foot sign. Shoppach, who had already rounded second base, reversed course as Crisp made a throw to the infield that was far to the right-field side of second.

But Gonzalez chased it down, spun and threw and caught Shoppach in time for the double play.

Lester, who was coveted by other teams at the trading deadline, gave up three runs on four hits and a walk in the first, then tacked on five scoreless innings to outlast fellow rookie lefty Jeremy Sowers.

Sowers had pitched consecutive shutouts in his previous starts, and he extended his shutout streak to 22 innings before Gonzalez doubled with two outs in the fifth. Youkilis followed with an RBI double and scored on Loretta's single to make it 3-2.

Brian Sikorski pitched one inning and allowed two hits -- Ramirez's game-tying homer just over the wall in straightaway center and a line drive by Pena that banged hard off the second row of the Monster Seats to make it 4-3.

Ramirez's homer was his 30th -- his ninth consecutive year with 30 or more. It was also the 465th of his career, tying him with Dave Winfield for 26th on the all-time list.

Hafner's homer gave him 30 for the second year in a row.

Notes:@ Lester has five pickoffs. ... Gonzalez hit his 200th career double. ... Martinez's homer was his 12th of the year. ... Boston RHP Manny Delcarmen hadn't pitched since Friday night because of a thumb injury. ... The Red Sox named RHP Jason Johnson as their probable starter for Sunday. RHP Kyle Snyder, who pitched 4 1-3 scoreless innings in relief for the win on Monday, will work out of the bullpen.