Rays within sight of first divisional title

BALTIMORE, Maryland (Reuters) - The Tampa Bay Rays moved to within sight of their first American League East title by winning both games of a doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles 5-2 and 7-5 on Tuesday.

With the regular season in the final week, Tampa Bay (95-62) moved three games ahead of the Boston Red Sox, who beat the Cleveland Indians 5-4 to clinch at least the AL wild card.

The wins on Tuesday reduced Tampa Bay's 'magic number' to two, meaning any combination of Rays' victories and Red Sox losses equaling two, would clinch the AL East title.

Both teams have five games remaining before the regular season ends on Sunday.

Tampa Bay play Baltimore again on Wednesday before beginning a four-game series at Detroit, while the Red Sox finish their series against the Indians on Thursday before hosting the New York Yankees for their final three games of the season.

The Rays had the worst record in the major leagues (66-96) last season and had never previously qualified for the playoffs since their formation 11 years ago.

COMEBACK VICTORIES

The Rays recovered from a 2-0 deficit with two runs in the fifth and one each in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to complement seven strong innings by pitcher James Shields (14-8) in the first game of the double header.

Tampa Bay were also down in the second game, 5-1, before Evan Longoria homered and pinch-hitter Dioner Navarro drove in two runs in a six-run eighth inning rally to complete the win.

"That was quite a comeback right there," Rays manager Joe Maddon said after the second game. "The whole team contributed."

In the first game, left-fielder Lou Montanez had given the Orioles a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a 380-foot homer into the left field stands.

The Rays, however, leveled it in the fifth on a throwing error during a pickoff attempt by losing pitcher Garrett Olson and a run-scoring double by Fernando Perez.

An RBI double by Jason Bartlett down the left field line gave Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead in the sixth before a run-scoring single by Carlos Pena increased the lead to 4-2 in the seventh.

Tampa Bay scored their final run on a bunt single by Perez that scored Ben Zorbrist.

"This year has been a Cinderella story not just for me but the whole team," he said.

"We can taste (the AL East title). But we're not there yet."

In Boston, the Red Sox scored three runs in the fifth to erase a 4-2 deficit and snap the Indians' seven-games winning streak.

By clinching at least the AL wild card, Boston ended the New York Yankees 13-season streak of playoff appearances. New York last missed the post-season in 1993, a year before a strike wiped out the 1994 playoffs.

In the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers mauled the San Diego Padres 10-1 to take a three-games lead in the NL West over the Arizona Diamondbacks, who lost 7-4 at St. Louis.

The New York Mets moved to within 1 games of the first-place Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East with a 6-2 win over the Chicago Cubs. The Phillies lost to Atlanta 3-2 at home.

The Mets also kept a game ahead of Milwaukee in the wild card race after the Brewers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-5.

(Additional reporting by Roger Lajoie in Toronto; Editing by Greg Stutchbury and Peter Rutherford)