Devil Rays nip BoSox — again

The Boston Red Sox might have a comfortable lead in the AL East if it wasn't for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Greg Norton hit solo homer in the 10th inning, and the Devil Rays rallied from a four-run deficit to overcome David Ortiz's major league-high 40th homer and beat the Red Sox 7-6 Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Tampa Bay has won seven of 10 games against Boston at Tropicana Field this season, including two of three during the weekend series.

"That game got away from us," Red Sox second baseman Mark Loretta said. "This building hasn't been too friendly to us. They had some great at-bats against some of our better pitchers. Sometimes they get you."

Norton sent an opposite-field drive into the left-field stands on a 2-0 pitch from Julian Tavarez (2-4). Boston, second to the New York Yankees in the AL East, dropped two games back for the first time this year.

"We've been up two or three games on the Yankees," Loretta said. "Now we're down a couple of games. I think it's going to seesaw like that."

Dioner Navarro's solo homer off Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon completed a two-run eighth that tied it at 6. Papelbon entered with one out after Travis Lee's homer against Mike Timlin.

"We're not machines," Timlin said. "We're not going to hit every spot every time. It just seems right now when we do miss, they're hitting the ball."

Papelbon, who blew his fourth save in 34 chances, has allowed runs in only four of 49 appearances. His ERA rose from 0.49 ERA to 0.64.

"We didn't finish the game," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "Obviously we had a four-run lead. We felt good about where we were, and it didn't end up the way we wanted it to."

TIGERS 1, INDIANS 0: At Detroit, Wilfredo Ledezma struck out five in 5 2/3 innings as the replacement starter for Justin Verlander, and the Detroit Tigers took advantage of an error by C.C. Sabathia to beat the Cleveland Indians and complete a three-game sweep.

TWINS 11, ROYALS 5: At Kansas City, Mo., Jason Bartlett had a career-high five hits as the Twins completed a four-game sweep and tied a Minnesota record with their eighth consecutive road win. The Twins, who overcame a 4-1 deficit, had 22 hits, their most since getting 23 against the Royals on June 19, 2003.

YANKEES 6, ORIOLES 1: At Baltimore, Derek Jeter hit the first of four solo homers against Rodrigo Lopez (8-12), and the Yankees opened a season-high two-game lead over second-place Boston in the AL East.