ESPN MLB

BOSTON (AP) -- Tie game, runner in scoring position and David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez due up in the 10th inning.

AL wild-card standings
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
Indians	85	62	.578	--
Yankees	84	62	.575	½
A's	81	66	.551	4

"It's about as bad as it gets," Oakland's Jay Payton said. "Those are the last two guys in the world you want to face with a guy on third base with less than two outs."

Neither slugger hit the ball fair and the Boston Red Sox still won, beating the Athletics 3-2 in 10 innings Friday night when Ortiz was walked intentionally to load the bases and Ramirez was hit by Keiichi Yabu's third pitch.

"I think it stunned us all. It's over," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "You are waiting to see where Manny hits it and what they can do with it, if they can do anything with it."

It was the first major-league game to end on a hit batter since Aug. 23, 2002, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. In that one, Atlanta's Kevin Gryboski hit the Dodgers' Paul Lo Duca. It hadn't happened for the Red Sox since June 16, 1997, when Troy O'Leary was hit by Philadelphia's Ricky Bottalico, also in the 10th inning.

Boston maintained a 1½-game lead in the AL East over the second-place Yankees, who beat Toronto 11-10. Oakland dropped one game back in the AL West when the Los Angeles Angels beat Detroit 7-6 in 12 innings.

Mike Timlin (7-2) got out of a 10th-inning jam when he retired second baseman Mark Ellis on a groundout with Marco Scutaro on third.

Juan Cruz (0-3) started the bottom of the 10th after Justin Duchscherer pitched 2 1/3 perfect innings and allowed a leadoff double to Tony Graffanino. Alejandro Machado pinch-ran and took third on Johnny Damon's groundout.

Oakland manager Ken Macha then removed Payton from left field in favor of a fifth infielder, Keith Ginter, who played behind Cruz.

Cruz hit Edgar Renteria on the right elbow and then walked Ortiz, who had tied the game 2-2 with his 43rd homer in the sixth.

"We wanted to pitch to Renteria, but when we hit him that pretty much sealed our fate," Macha said. "Had we gotten a sharp groundball to Ginter or Ellis, there's a chance to turn" a double play on Ramirez.

After Ortiz walked, Yabu relieved and hit Ramirez on the left elbow with a 1-1 pitch. Ramirez trotted to first, where he was mobbed by teammates.

"I obviously wanted to get the groundball out and the double play, but that didn't happen," Yabu said through an interpreter.

Tim Wakefield came close to his third consecutive complete game, leaving after nine innings with the score tied at 2. He allowed two runs and seven hits with three strikeouts and a walk. In his previous start, he allowed three hits in eight innings but lost 1-0 to the Yankees' Randy Johnson.

"I felt better as the game went on," Wakefield said. "I told Terry after the ninth that I had enough in my tank to go back out there, and he said I had thrown 112 pitches and Timlin was ready to come into the game."

Wakefield retired 12 of his last 13 batters and set down the first two batters in the 10th before Scutaro doubled and took third on a wild pitch.

Kevin Millar scored the first run in the second inning when he doubled, took third on Kevin Youkilis' single and came in on a passed ball by Jason Kendall on a third strike to Doug Mirabelli.

The Athletics went hitless through three innings and then scored two runs on four hits in the fourth. The runs came in on RBI singles by Kendall and Payton.

Ortiz tied it in the sixth against Oakland starter Joe Kennedy with his fifth homer in seven games.

Boston loaded the bases in the seventh, but Renteria grounded to shortstop, and Scutaro stepped on second for an inning-ending forceout.

The start of the game was delayed 1 hour, 37 minutes and began in a steady rain after Francona and Macha met with umpires near home plate. The rain fell for most of the game, but with more forecast for Saturday, when the teams are scheduled to play a night game, the decision was made to play.

Neither team said the conditions made much of a difference.

"It's the end of the season," Ortiz said. "We don't want to play against the A's in Baltimore on the day off."

Boston's only remaining day off is next Thursday before its three-game series in Baltimore.

Game notes

Kendall hit into his sixth double play in six games in the first inning. He leads the AL with 25 double plays grounded into. Oakland has hit into 15 double plays in its last seven games. ... Renteria is in a 1-for-22 slump after going 0-for-4. ... Ortiz is tied for fifth in homers in one season for the Red Sox. He matched the totals of Ted Williams in 1949, Tony Armas in 1984 and Ramirez last season. ... Millar increased his hitting streak to 13 games. ... Kennedy had lost his previous three starts. ... Oakland is 32-13 in its last 45 road games.