The Cleveland Indians can't afford any losses at this stage of the baseball season. Especially an unlucky loss to the worst team in the American League.
Indians centre-fielder Grady Sizemore lost Paul Phillips' deep fly in the sun in the ninth inning, allowing Angel Berroa to score the winning run for Kansas City Royals in a 5-4 victory Sunday. "I saw it. It was right at me," Sizemore said softly. "It just got in the sun. I knew it was going to be in the sun. I tried to wait for it to come out and I just never saw it."

The ball bounced off Sizemore's leg, Berroa raced home from second base and Phillips was credited with a one-out double. The heavy-hitting Indians lost for only the third time in 20 games, trimming their AL wild-card lead to a half-game over the Red Sox and Yankees, who are tied atop the AL East.

Victor Martinez hit a three-run homer for Cleveland, which also dropped 2 1/2 games behind first-place Chicago in the AL Central. The White Sox beat Minnesota 4-1.

Sizemore, instrumental in a surge that has brought the Indians almost all the way back from a 15-game deficit on Aug 1, stood motionless for a few seconds as the ball lay at his feet and Berroa sped home.

"I looked around and there it was," Sizemore said. "I kind of waited maybe a little too long. Probably should have picked it up and thrown it in. But I was a little frustrated, you know."

Indians manager Eric Wedge didn't think Sizemore would have had a chance to get Berroa at the plate.

"I don't think you'd have a prayer, as deep as he was," Wedge said. "When you're staring up into the sun like that, as we all have, you're not seeing a whole lot after you pull away."

Cleveland has a day off on Monday before finishing the regular season at home with three games against Tampa Bay and three more against the White Sox.

"We just need to go out there and keep playing the way we're playing," Wedge said.

Elsewhere in the AL it was: New York 8, Toronto 4; Chicago 4, Minnesota 1; Boston 9, Baltimore 3; Tampa Bay 8, Los Angeles 4; Detroit 8, Seattle 1; and Texas 6, Oakland 2.

At Kansas City, Mo., Emil Brown had a two-run shot for the Royals, who had dropped 10 straight to Cleveland and have the worst record in the major leagues. But they snapped the Indians' four-game winning streak and avoided a four-game sweep, slowing Cleveland's playoff push - at least for a day.

"It doesn't seem to matter how far we're down. This team's going to battle," Phillips said. "Today we fought back and got the lead and then lost it and still got it back again."

The Indians tied the score 4-4 in the ninth on Casey Blake's RBI grounder, but Bob Howry (7-4) gave up a leadoff single to Berroa in the bottom half. He moved up on Joe McEwing's sacrifice.

Mike MacDougal (5-6) blew a save but got the win.

Ronnie Belliard and Ben Broussard began the Cleveland ninth with infield singles off MacDougal and advanced on a sacrifice by Aaron Boone. Blake's grounder to second scored Belliard with the tying run.

Mark Teahen gave the Royals a 4-3 lead when he scored on Jake Westbrook's wild pitch in the seventh.

Westbrook went eight innings, giving up seven hits and four runs - one earned - with one walk and eight strikeouts. He allowed only one hit until the Royals scored three runs in the sixth. Phillips singled leading off, then Andres Blanco reached on shortstop Jhonny Peralta's error.

"To be honest with you, the way Westbrook was pitching and the at-bats we were getting early on, I thought we had no chance," Royals manager Buddy Bell said.

Kansas City starter Zack Greinke fell behind 3-0 in the first on Martinez's homer but then pitched six shutout innings.

Brown's two-run drive in the sixth tied it for the Royals.

Greinke gave up five hits in seven innings, with one walk and six strikeouts.

Yankees 8, Blue Jays 4

At New York, Robinson Cano hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning, Gary Sheffield added a three-run shot in the eighth and New York defeated Toronto in its final scheduled home game of the regular season. Chien-Ming Wang (8-4) beat Josh Towers (12-12).

White Sox 4, Twins 1

At Chicago, Mark Buehrle (16-8) pitched a four-hitter and Paul Konerko homered off Francisco Liriano (0-2) to help the White Sox beat Minnesota.

Red Sox 9, Orioles 3

At Baltimore, Manny Ramirez hit his 41st homer in a five-run first inning and Johnny Damon connected in a four-run fifth, leading Boston past Baltimore for a three-game sweep. David Wells (14-7) beat rookie John Maine (2-3).

Devils Rays 8, Angels 4

At Anaheim, Calif., Jorge Cantu and Aubrey Huff homered on consecutive pitches from Bartolo Colon (20-8), and Tampa Bay ended Los Angeles' eight-game winning streak. Mark Hendrickson (11-7) won his seventh straight decision.

Tigers 8, Mariners 1

At Detroit, Mike Maroth (14-13) pitched seven strong innings, and Curtis Granderson scored twice and drove in two runs to lead Detroit over Seattle. Seattle reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa (1-3) allowed five runs in three innings after starter Gil Meche lasted only two innings.

Rangers 6, Athletics 2

At Oakland, Calif., Rod Barajas hit a three-run homer and Michael Young extended his career-best hitting streak to 22 games with an RBI double, leading Texas past Oakland. Juan Dominguez (4-5) pitched 7 1-3 strong innings for the Rangers. Kirk Saarloos (10-8) suffered the loss.

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As the San Diego Padres continue to stumble towards the post-season, the Arizona Diamondbacks are keeping their slim playoff hopes alive.

Chad Tracy singled home Andy Green in the 10th inning to give the Arizona Diamondbacks a 4-3 victory over San Diego on Sunday, reducing the Padres' lead in the sorry NL West to four games over San Francisco.

The Padres lost their last two in Arizona to drop one game below .500 (77-78).

"I don't think we feel like we have a lot of pressure on us," said Joe Randa, who had a three-run homer for San Diego. "But we feel like we need to finish the job. We keep letting everybody stay in this thing and we need to go home and take care of business."

The Padres and Giants begin a four-game series in San Diego on Monday night. Arizona, 5 1/2 back with six games left, averted elimination by winning its final home game of the season.

"It's good," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. "We've struggled all year here, especially scoring runs and getting anything going. We had some pretty good, enthusiastic crowds the last two days, and it was good to put on a good show for them."

Washington (78-78), the last-place team in the NL East, has a better record than the division-leading Padres.

Elsewhere in the NL it was: Chicago 3, Houston 2; Philadelphia 6, Cincinnati 3; Atlanta 5, Florida 3; San Francisco 6, Colorado 2; New York 6, Washington 5; St. Louis 2, Milwaukee 0; and Los Angeles 9, Pittsburgh 2.

At Phoenix, Akinori Otsuka (2-8) took the loss for the second day in a row. He gave up an infield single to pinch-hitter Green leading off the 10th, then threw the ball away on Craig Counsell's sacrifice bunt for an error, leaving runners at second and third with none out.

Luis Gonzalez was walked intentionally before Tracy's liner into right field ended the game. Tracy also had a three-run double in Saturday night's 8-5 come-from-behind victory. He is batting .515 on an eight-game hitting streak, raising his season average to .305.

"I'm not going to lie, I feel real good right now," Tracy said. "It's something I've been working on all year and everything's starting to come together. Right now, it seems like the field is pretty big out there."

Arizona outhit the Padres 13-2. San Diego didn't have a hit after Randa's three-run homer with one out in the fourth.

"We didn't swing the bats at all today," San Diego manager Bruce Bochy said. "We got the big hit there by Joe but we didn't create many opportunities, and we were dodging bullets all day."

Jose Valverde (3-4) pitched a perfect 10th for the victory.

Randa's homer, one of two hits allowed by Arizona's Javier Vazquez in seven innings, put San Diego up 3-2. The 337-foot fly ball barely made it into the Diamondbacks' bullpen just inside the left-field foul pole.

Arizona tied it at 3 in the seventh when Tony Clark walked, Alex Cintron singled and Royce Clayton walked to load the bases with one out. Luis Terrero, running for Clark, scored on pinch-hitter Quinton McCracken's groundout. Scott Linebrink struck out pinch-hitter Troy Glaus to end the inning.

Vazquez fanned a season-high 12 and retired 11 in a row after Randa's homer. The only other Padres hit was Brian Giles' two-out double in the first.

In the fourth, Vazquez fanned Giles for what would have been the second out, but the ball got past the catcher for a wild pitch and Giles reached first. Ryan Klesko drew Vazquez's lone walk of the afternoon, then Randa lofted his 17th home run of the season on a 1-1 pitch to make it 3-2.

Woody Williams gave up two runs and nine hits in 5 1-3 innings for the Padres.

The Diamondbacks scored single runs in the second and third to go up 2-0 on RBI singles by Vazquez and Cintron.

Cubs 3, Astros 2

At Chicago, Jeromy Burnitz hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning off Mike Gallo (0-1) , Derrek Lee also connected and the Chicago Cubs beat Houston to cut the Astros' NL wild-card lead to one game. Jerome Williams (6-9) won for the first time since Sept. 4.

Phillies 6, Reds 3

At Cincinnati, Jimmy Rollins hit a leadoff home run of Randy Keisler (2-1), extending his hitting streak to 30 games, and fell a double short of the cycle as Philadelphia pulled within a game of Houston in the wild-card race. Cory Lidle (12-11) earned the win.

Braves 5, Marlins 3

At Atlanta, Marcus Giles hit a tying two-run homer, then drove in the go-ahead run with a seventh-inning sacrifice fly as Atlanta (89-67) moved closer to another division title by beating fading Florida. Blaine Boyer (4-2) recorded one out in the seventh for the win. A.J. Burnett (12-12) couldn't hold an early 3-0 lead as his losing streak stretched to a career-worst six games..

Giants 6, Rockies 2

At Denver, Barry Bonds went hitless in a surprise start, but San Francisco still kept its slim playoff hopes alive by scoring four runs in the ninth to beat Colorado. Tyler Walker (5-4) beat Brian Fuentes (2-5).

Mets 6, Nationals 5

At Washington, Mike Piazza hit two of New York's four homers, and the Mets eliminated Washington from playoff contention and dropped the Nationals to last in the NL East. David Wright and Mike Jacobs hit solo homers off Travis Hughes (1-1) in the eighth. Juan Padilla (2-1) earned the win.

Cardinals 2, Brewers 0

At Milwaukee, Jeff Suppan (16-10) allowed six hits in eight innings and Jim Edmonds homered as St. Louis beat Milwaukee to snap a three-game losing streak. Doug Davis (11-11) fell to 0-4 with a 5.48 ERA against St. Louis this season.

Dodgers 9, Pirates 2

At Los Angeles, Derek Lowe (12-14) pitched six solid innings, pinch-hitter Jason Phillips drove in the go-ahead runs in a six-run sixth, and Los Angeles beat Pittsburgh for its second win in nine games. Josh Fogg (6-11) took the loss.