Millar's two-run single in ninth helps O's trip BoSox

BOSTON (AP) -- In three seasons with the Boston Red Sox, Kevin Millar had a lot of big moments at Fenway Park. He added another Saturday night, only this time in a visiting uniform.

Millar's two-run single in the ninth inning lifted Baltimore to a 5-4 victory over the Red Sox, snapping the Orioles' nine-game losing streak at Fenway.

Elias Says
Ramirez Manny Ramirez's home run on Saturday night was his first since Aug. 19, and his 160th over the last four seasons. David Ortiz has hit 173 homers during that same period. They are the first teammates in major-league history to average 40 home runs each over a four-year span. • For more Elias Says, Click here.

Millar, a key part of Boston's 2004 World Series championship team, went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI a day after going 1-for-3 with a homer in Baltimore's loss. Since signing with the Orioles in the offseason, Millar is 16-for-48 with 10 RBI and 11 runs scored in 14 games against the Red Sox.

"It's been a dogfight all year," Millar said. "We've seen them so many times, they know what I hit, they know what my holes are, they know what my strengths are. So it's kind of been a cat and mouse game with (Jason) Varitek and (Doug) Mirabelli back there."

Miguel Tejada and Jay Gibbons led off the ninth with singles off Mike Timlin (6-6). After a fielder's choice and passed ball put runners at second and third, Millar hit a ball off the top of the Green Monster, just missing his second homer in two days. Still, the base hit scored two runs and helped the Orioles became just the fifth team this season to beat the Red Sox when trailing after eight innings.

"A little short right there, a little short," Millar said. "I've hit that wall enough to know that wasn't going to be a home run. You've got to hit the ball up to get it out. But it was a big win for us."

Chris Ray (4-4) pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth for the victory, Baltimore's third in 17 games against Boston this season. David Ortiz pinch hit to lead off the ninth and flew out to the deepest part of the outfield in center.

"I'm sitting there going, 'Who are we going to pitch if it's a tie game?" Baltimore manager Sam Perlozzo said. "But that's just a matter of preparation and respect for the guy that's at the plate. At the same time, our guy was up for the challenge."

After getting Ortiz, Ray got Mark Loretta and Mike Lowell to pop out.

Manny Ramirez went 2-for-3 with a home run and Carlos Pena was 2-for-4 and drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning for the Red Sox, who dropped to third place in the AL East. Toronto, which beat the New York Yankees 6-5 earlier in the day, took over sole possession of second.

Ramirez, making his first start since Sept. 9, hit his 470th career homer and first since Aug. 19. Ramirez missed 17 of the previous 18 games with soreness in his right knee, making his only appearance during that stretch as a pinch-hitter in Boston's 5-3 loss to Toronto on Sept.23.

"He can hit," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "I bet if you give him a bat in December, he can hit."

Tim Wakefield, looking for his first win since July 6 against Tampa Bay, allowed three runs in six innings. He remained 0-3 since coming off the disabled list Sept. 13 after missing nearly two months with a stress fracture in his rib cage.

"I wanted him to get a win so bad," Francona said. "The biggest thing I told him before he went out there was, 'I want you to leave the game clean, feeling good,' which he did."

The Orioles led 3-0 on David Newhan's sacrifice fly in the first and Chris Gomez's two-run single in the fifth.

Adam Loewen allowed four runs on three hits and five walks in 5 1-3 innings for Baltimore. He didn't allow a hit until Pena singled to right with one out in the fifth to load the bases. Dustin Pedroia then followed with a walk -- Loewen's third of the inning -- to pull Boston to 3-1, but Mark Loretta grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The Red Sox then scored three times in the sixth to pull ahead. With one out, Ramirez homered over the Green Monster to make it 3-2. Wily Mo Pena then walked, and Trot Nixon followed with an RBI double to tie the score at 3 and chase Loewen.

Two batters later, Pena hit a slow grounder past the outstretched glove of second baseman Gomez to drive in Nixon and put Boston up 4-3.

Gomez went 3-for-4 to extend his career-best hitting streak to 18 games.

Game notes
Peter Gammons will throw out the first pitch in the season finale Sunday. ... RHP Jonathan Papelbon threw batting practice off the mound before Saturday's game. ... Baltimore 3B Melvin Mora had three consecutive assists spanning the third and fourth innings. ... Nixon's sixth-inning double snapped an 0-for-17 slump. ... Ramirez walked in the fourth inning to set a single-season career high of 100. ... The Red Sox have finished second in the division eight straight years.