After struggling for three months, the Boston Red Sox are getting hot.

Curt Schilling allowed three hits in seven shutout innings for his 15th win and Manny Ramirez hit a grand slam to lead Boston over the Chicago White Sox 10-1 Friday night.

"I don't care about a grand slam, I care about winning," Ramirez said. "I know I'm a blessed player, a special player. Everything that I've done, I'm just happy."

Orlando Cabrera homered and drove in four runs. Boston, which has won four straight and 10 of 13, remained tied with Texas for the AL wild-card lead and moved within 7½ games of the first-place Yankees in the AL East, the closest Boston has been since July 30.

Schilling (15-6) walked none and struck out six in a 79-pitch outing. He appeared on the way to his first shutout since joining the Red Sox, but wanted to save some energy for the stretch run.

"This is probably the first time in my career where I came out of a game like that," Schilling said. "I'm staying out there for one reason and that's to throw a shutout and right now that means nothing."

At Chicago, Ramirez's 31st homer this season was the 16th slam of his career, tying Robin Ventura of the Dodgers for the most among active players. Mark Buehrle (11-7) allowed six runs in the first two innings.

Eric Chavez homered twice and Bobby Crosby went 3-for-5 with a homer to break out of a 3-for-40 slump as AL West-leading Oakland won its fourth straight and maintained a half-game lead over Texas and a 1½-game margin over Anaheim. Adam Melhuse also homered for the visiting A's, who have 11 homers in the past three games.Rich Harden (8-5) won his fifth straight decision, giving up five runs and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings. Octavio Dotel got the last out for his 13th save.

David Dellucci hit two solo homers, and Kevin Mench had a three-run drive as visiting Texas won its seventh straight, one shy of its season high.Ryan Drese (11-6) won his fourth straight decision, a career best, allowing three runs and five hits in seven-plus innings. Francisco Cordero got three outs for his 38th save.

Ramon Ortiz (4-7) allowed four hits in eight innings to win for the first time in seven starts since June 19 as the visiting Angels got homers from Adam Kennedy and Garret Anderson. The Angels won their third straight and remained 1½ games behind Oakland.Jon Lieber (9-8) gave up three runs - two earned - and 11 hits in 6innings as New York lost for the fourth time in five games.

Kyle Lohse (6-10) pitched three-hit ball for seven innings, and Corey Koskie homered for Minnesota. The host Twins, whose AL Central lead was cut to one game by the Indians last Saturday, opened a five-game margin over the second-place Indians, who have lost five straight.

Craig Monroe went 4-for-5 with a tiebreaking homer at Detroit, and Nate Robertson (10-7) allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings.

Chris Woodward hit his first career grand slam, and Orlando Hudson had three hits as visiting Toronto stopped a four-game road losing streak. Eric Hinske also homered for the last-place Blue Jays, 3-8 under interim manager John Gibbons.

At Los Angeles, Adrian Beltre hit a tying home run off closer John Smoltz in the ninth inning and a game-winning shot in the 11th to give Los Angeles the win.The multitalented third baseman took over the major league lead with 38 home runs.

At Houston, Sammy Sosa and Nomar Garciaparra each hit one of Chicago's season-high six homers, and Glendon Rusch (6-1) pitched seven strong innings to end Houston's four-game winning streak.Mark Grudzielanek homered twice, and Moises Alou and Corey Patterson each had a two-run shot.

At San Francisco, Pedro Feliz homered twice, Edgardo Alfonzo connected off Steve Trachsel (10-10), and the Giants snapped a seven-game losing streak against New York.Rookie Noah Lowry (3-0) had a career-high 10 strikeouts and won his third straight decision. Barry Bonds went 3-for-4 with a double to help San Francisco maintain a half-game lead in the wild-card race.

At San Diego, Brian Lawrence (12-10) pitched a five-hitter to match his career high for wins, and Ramon Hernandez hit a three-run homer. NL hits leader Mark Loretta homered off Dontrelle Willis (9-9) and scored three runs.

At Phoenix, Randy Johnson (12-11) struck out 14 for the second straight game and joined Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan (215) as the only pitchers to reach double digits 200 times, yet still wound up with a loss.

At Milwaukee, Jim Thome and Bobby Abreu homered, and Eric Milton (13-2) pitched seven solid innings to end Philadelphia's seven-game losing streak.

At Denver, Tony Batista hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth and had three RBIs for Montrea.