Bosox Beat Indians In 15th Inning, 6-4

American League

The Boston Red Sox avoided the first season series sweep in their 96-year history Wednesday night when Tim Naehring homered in the bottom of the 15th inning to beat the Cleveland Indians 6-4 at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox, who started play in 1901, had lost 14 consecutive games to Cleveland - their first 11 this year plus a three-game sweep in the first round of the 1995 A.L. playoffs.

Boston rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the ninth, tying it against Jose Mesa on Naehring’s single.

Alex Delgado drew a one-walk in the 15th from Alan Embree (1-1) and Naehring followed with his 12th homer of the year, lining it over the Green Monster.

It was the major league-leading 16th extra-inning game for the Red Sox and the longest of the season by time (5 hours and 14 minutes) and innings for both clubs.

Yankees 2, Twins 1

Minneapolis

Bernie Williams led off the ninth with a homer and John Wetteland picked up his 23rd save to tie for the major league lead as New York beat Minnesota.

Williams connected against reliever Eddie Guardado (3-3) for his 14th homer of the season and second in as many games. It gave reliever Dale Polley (1-0) a victory in just his second appearance. Yankees starter Jimmy Key, just off the 15-day disabled list, was sharp. He allowed one run on seven hits, struck out three and walked one in seven innings.

Royals 7, Brewers 3

Kansas City, Mo.

Mike Macfarlane homered twice and drove in three runs as Kansas City defeated Milwaukee for just the second time in nine tries.

Craig Paquette also homered for Kansas City, giving the Royals three homers in a game for the fifth time this season. They are last in the majors with 53 homers.

Rangers 6, Orioles 5

Arlington, Texas

Juan Gonzalez hit a three-run double in the eighth, rallying Texas past Baltimore.

The Rangers, who trailed 5-1 in the sixth, won the season series from Baltimore 10-3.

Rangers third baseman Dean Palmer left the game after the fourth inning with a fever and blurred vision caused by allergies.

Central battle begins

The Chicago White Sox like to talk about no opponent being more important than any other, saying they don’t look ahead to any series.

It’s hard to believe them this time.

Cleveland comes to town today for the start of a four-game series at Comiskey Park. Then, the two teams tangle again next week in Cleveland, playing four more at Jacobs Field.

It’s No. 1 Cleveland vs. No. 2 Chicago in the Central Division, a matchup of perhaps the best teams in the league. Losing to the Indians early last year helped hasten White Sox manager Gene Lamont’s exit.

Cleveland outdistanced Chicago by 32 games to win the inaugural division title, then wound up in the World Series. The Great Lakes rivals had been expected to vie closely for the Central title this year, and they have.

All of this is not lost on most of the White Sox.

“They are like heavyweight champions and if we can knock them off we’d be the champions,” said outfielder Lyle Mouton.