Orlando Cabrera flung off his helmet, stepped on home plate and was mobbed by his teammates after leading the Boston Red Sox to another dramatic victory.

The celebration capped a tiring 24 hours for Cabrera, who flew all night from Colombia to Boston after leaving the team for two days to be with his ailing wife.

He was back in the starting lineup Wednesday night and homered off Rick Bauer (1-1) in the bottom of the 12th inning to lead the Red Sox to their second straight win in their last at-bat, 7-6 over Baltimore.

"I slept the whole night on the plane," Cabrera said. "From Bogota to New York - six hours."

Cabrera's wife, Eliana, underwent an undisclosed surgical procedure this week.

"I was thinking about taking another day because my wife asked me to stay another day," he said. "I kept saying, `I got to go. I got to go.'"

The shortstop made sure manager Terry Francona knew he was back in Boston - and ready to get back in the lineup.

"Once I landed in Boston, I went to my apartment and called Terry and left a voicemail saying I was here and that I wanted to play."

On Tuesday night, Mark Bellhorn's two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the ninth lifted the Red Sox to a 3-2 win.

Wednesday's victory moved Boston, which leads the AL wild-card race, within 31/2 games of the first-place New York Yankees in the East. The teams play a three-game series at Fenway Park over the weekend.

At Boston, Curtis Leskanic (3-5) worked out of a bases-loaded jam with one out in the top of the inning for the victory.

Baltimore loaded the bases with one out against Leskanic, but the Red Sox turned a 3-2-4 double play on Jay Gibbons' grounder when first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz threw home before Jason Varitek fired to Pokey Reese, covering first.

David Ortiz gave Boston a 6-5 lead with his 40th homer in the seventh, but Rafael Palmeiro had a pinch-hit homer leading off the ninth against Keith Foulke to tie it. It was Palmeiro's 549th homer, moving him into 10th place on the career list ahead of Mike Schmidt.

The Red Sox loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, but Jason Grimsley got Cabrera and Bill Mueller to ground into fielder's choice grounders.

"Can't hang your head, not the way (we) played," Baltimore manager Lee Mazzilli said.

At New York, Vernon Wells hit a go-ahead, two-run triple off Orlando Hernandez in the seventh, and Toronto rallied past the Yankees.New York built a 3-0 lead when Bernie Williams hit a two-run homer in the first and Ruben Sierra added a solo shot in the second off Ted Lilly (12-10). Williams' drive gave the Yankees six hitters with 20 or more homers for only the second time in their history, the first since 1961.Hernandez (8-1) was trying to become the first Yankees starter to win his first nine decisions since Tommy John in 1979.

At Anaheim, Calif., Raul Ibanez tied an AL record for a nine-inning game with six hits, and Ichiro Suzuki had four more singles to pace Seattle's 24-hit outburst.Suzuki set a team record with nine hits in two games. He has 247 hits and is 10 from tying George Sisler's 84-year-old record with 10 games left.The Angels remained 21/2 games behind Oakland in the AL West, but dropped 61/2 games behind Boston in the wild-card race.

At Arlington, Texas, Kenny Rogers (17-8) matched a career high with his 17th win and Eric Young hit his first homer in more than a year, a three-run tiebreaker, moving Texas within three games of Oakland in the AL West.

At Chicago, Paul Konerko hit a game-winning RBI single in the ninth for the White Sox.Wilson Valdez led off with a single off Joe Roa (2-3) and moved to second on Aaron Rowand's sacrifice. Roa then walked Willie Harris and Konerko followed with a single, giving Chicago the win.

At St. Petersburg, Fla., Ruben Gotay hit an RBI grounder in the 10th for Kansas City.David DeJesus homered and drove in three runs for the Royals. Tampa Bay's Matt Diaz hit his first major league homer.

At Detroit, Jhonny Peralta's two-run double keyed Cleveland's five-run seventh.Josh Phelps homered for the Indians, who came back from a 3-0 deficit a night after overcoming a five-run deficit to win.