Of course the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are tied with two games to go. The AL East had to come down to this.

Jason Varitek homered, David Ortiz drove in another big run and David Wells (15-7) got another big win at Fenway Park to give the Red Sox a 5-3 victory Friday night.

Boston's victory left both teams at 94-66.

"You never want to sigh too hard," Red Sox closer Mike Timlin said. "It's going to be a tough two games."

Cleveland lost 3-2 in 13 innings to the visiting Chicago White Sox and is a game back of New York and Boston at 93-67.

If Boston and New York split the last two games and Cleveland beats Chicago twice, there would be a one-game playoff Monday at Yankee Stadium for the AL East title, with the loser playing the Indians on Tuesday for the wild-card berth.

If Boston and New York are tied and Cleveland can't match them, the Yankees would win the East and the Red Sox the wild card because New York will have won the season series against Boston.

"It was inevitable," New York third baseman Alex Rodriguez said. "You knew in spring training when you saw these three games it was going to come down to this."

Wells (15-7) won for the sixth time in seven decisions, allowing three runs, six hits and two walks in seven innings as he improved to 8-1 this year at home.

"I like the ball in a big game. I'm not afraid to take it," he said. "At age 23 or 42, I still have the same intensity. I just want to go out and pitch, and win."

At Cleveland, Chicago won despite resting many of its regular starters, a day after clinching the AL Central.September callup Ross Gload hit a two-run double in the 13th off rookie Fernando Cabrera (2-1) as the newly crowned AL Central champions secured home-field advantage throughout the playoffs."People were killing me on national TV," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "They said I wasn't respecting the game, but that's only because it was Boston and New York. If it had happened to another team, no one would have talked about it."Every manager in baseball does what I did. The day after you clinch, you play your bench guys. (Atlanta manager) Bobby Cox does it and he's a genius. I do it and everybody says I don't know what I'm doing."The Indians, who stranded 11, closed to 3-2 on Ronnie Belliard's two-out homer off Bobby Jenks, who then retired Ben Broussard on an infield pop for his fifth save. Belliard's RBI grounder had tied the score in the ninth.Cliff Politte (7-1) pitched a scoreless 12th.

Visiting Kansas City (55-105) set a team record for losses as Toronto's Josh Towers (13-12) scattered nine hits in his second complete game of the season. Kansas City, which has lost 100 games for the third time in four seasons, broke the franchise record set last year.

Melvin Mora hit a two-run homer - his fifth home run in nine games - as visiting Baltimore won in Tampa Bay's first game following the team's announcement that manager Lou Piniella will not return next year.

Ichiro Suzuki went 4-for-5 and with 202 hits became the sixth major leaguer with 200 five straight seasons, joining Willie Keeler (1894-1901), Wade Boggs (1983-89), Chuck Klein (1929-33), Al Simmons (1929-33) and Charlie Gehringer (1933-37).

John Lackey (14-5) allowed three hits over five scoreless innings at Arlington in his final playoff tuneup and Garret Anderson hit a three-run homer off R.A. Dickey (1-2), making his fourth major league start as a knuckleballer.

Rookie Francisco Liriano (1-2) allowed five hits in seven innings for his first major league win, and Justin Morneau hit a grand slam at Minnesota. Mike Maroth (14-14) failed in his attempt to become the first Tigers left-hander with 15 wins since Justin Thompson in 1997.

Closer Brad Lidge could not hold the lead. Now it's up to Roger Clemens to make the save.When Clemens takes the mound Saturday, he will be trying to help the Houston Astros protect a lead that is down to one game in the NL wild-card race.The Astros were on the verge of being two games up with two to play, but Lidge blew his first save in more than three months, allowing two runs and four hits in a 4-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Friday night.That allowed Philadelphia to gain a game after its 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals. The Phillies' closer - and Lidge's predecessor in Houston - did come through, as Billy Wagner recorded his first save of more than three outs since June 5."We played 160 games to have a chance to get to the playoffs, and the next two ballgames will be the most important games of the whole year," Wagner said. "We're watching the scoreboard. We need help right now to get into the playoffs."Philadelphia probably shouldn't expect it from Houston's starter on Saturday. Clemens (12-8) will be back on the mound after skipping a start to rest his sore left hamstring.Then again, the Astros got a strong start Friday and wasted it. Andy Pettitte allowed a run and five hits in seven innings, and Houston had a 3-2 lead after Lance Berkman's go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning.But Chicago started the ninth with three straight hits off Lidge (4-4), who had converted 24 straight save chances since June 11. Lidge got one out before pinch-hitter Todd Walker singled to score Michael Barrett with the go-ahead run.The Nationals also would love to play spoiler, but they came up short Friday night against Cory Lidle (13-11) and the Philadelphia bullpen."We know what they're trying to get after," Washington's Jamey Carroll said, "and we want to keep them from that."Ryan Howard homered off Livan Hernandez (15-10) in the second inning and Jimmy Rollins extended his hitting streak to 34 games with a pair of hits. On Saturday, the Phillies will send Brett Myers (12-8) to the mound.If the Phillies (86-74) and Astros (87-73) finish the regular season in a tie, they would meet in a one-game playoff Monday at Philadelphia.

At New York, the Mets (82-78) guaranteed a winning season in Willie Randolph's first year as manager.

At St. Louis, Albert Pujols hit a grand slam in the seventh inning for his 200th career home run, and Reggie Sanders' two-run double snapped a sixth-inning tie against Luke Hudson (6-9).

At San Diego, the NL West champions (81-79) guaranteed themselves at least a .500 record by beating Los Angeles behind seven strong innings from Woody Williams (9-12).

At San Francisco, Alex Cintron hit a tiebreaking RBI single off LaTroy Hawkins (2-8) in the eighth and added a three-run double in the ninth, leading Arizona to its sixth straight victory.

At Miami, pinch-hitter Lenny Harris hid a two-run homer in the eighth inning as Florida clinched a .500 or better finish.