In Baltimore, the Orioles had the bases loaded when Jay Payton stroked a Mariano Rivera cutter to right field. It skittered past Bobby Abreu and Mike Timlin leaped off the sofa in the Red Sox clubhouse. ''Run!'' he shouted to the plasma TV. As if they heard him, the three O's baserunners sprinted around the bases, giving Baltimore a 9-9 bottom-of-the-ninth tie and sending several of the Red Sox into a fit of joy. In the end, Melvin Mora singled off Edwar Ramirez down the third base line in the 10th inning, sending in the winning run. Hundreds of fans at Fenway Park went nuts and the champagne began flowing in the Red Sox clubhouse, for the Sox had won the AL East Division, their first since 1995. With the Indians leading Kansas City heading into the ninth, the Sox were looking at a first-round playoff matchup against the Angels. The Red Sox had already done their job an hour earlier. Itching to wrap up the A.L. East and regain the best record in the majors, the Sox Friday night rallied around Daisuke Matsuzaka's this-is-when-we-need it performance to upend the Minnesota Twins, 5-2, slicing their magic number to just one while the Yankees were struggling to hang on in Baltimore. Matsuzaka was terrific for six innings, when he allowed only four hits and no runs, but faltered in the seventh, when he gave up two hits, including a Justin Morneau solo home run, a walk and two runs. Surprisingly, Francona stayed with him for the eighth, when he recorded a strikeout but gave up a walk. Dramatically, he erased Torii Hunter on a double play. Throwing 119 pitches, he allowed six hits, striking out eight and walking two. The rookie right-hander has now struck out 201 batters, moving him from 13th to ninth place amongst rookies for single-season strikeouts. He gave up six hits and the two runs, struck out seven and walked just one in winning his 15th and final game of the season. Matsuzaka received a huge boost from David Ortiz, who doubled and singled in his first two at-bats to stretch his streak of reaching safely to 11. And by the way, he stroked his 35th home run into Fenway's Green Monster seats in the eighth. Mike Lowell had two hits and two RBI. Jonathan Papelbon picked up his 37th save. ''This is what we wanted to do all year,'' said Lowell. ''We wanted to be in a position where we could take care of business, control where we go, not be hoping someone does something. That's a good sign for us.'' The Sox, and hundreds of fans who remained in Fenway to watch on the Jumbotron, surely were hoping the Orioles would get the job done in extra innings, but they were simply thrilled to handle the Twins on one of the biggest nights of the year. This was a big game for the Sox and a huge one for Matsuzaka, who'd won only once in eight previous starts, some of them brutal, several not so bad. After Josh Beckett had failed in his bid to head into the postseason with his 21st win a night earlier, Matsuzaka just needed to get back on track, his position in the postseason rotation still up in the air. ''It was an important game, so I really wanted to win today,'' Matsuzaka said, ''and as I was pitching, I just kept telling myself that we were going to win today. From here, there are many important games in a row, and I just wanted to set myself up and throw a good game, and hopefully it will carry me into the playoffs.'' Matsuzaka finished with 204 2/3 innings, and when he left he became the first Sox rookie to pitch at least 200 innings in a season since Frank Sullivan in 1954. Of course, the starter had plenty of help. His defense wasn't adversely taxed, but his offense gave him a big boost with two first-inning runs thanks to an Ortiz double, a single by Lowell and a double by J.D. Drew. The Sox scored again in the third when, after a Dustin Pedroia single, Manny Ramirez hit into a fielder's choice, got to second on a wild pitch, third an Ortiz single and scored on a Lowell ground out. The Sox chased starter Kevin Slowey when Kevin Youkilis singled in Lowell with two out in the sixth. The Ortiz single was notable, for it was his ninth straight hit, with a walk. He'd actually reached safely 11 consecutive times, with two walks, a streak that ended in the sixth when he grounded out to second base. The Sox DH's first-inning double was his 51st as a designated hitter, breaking the major league record, and his 52nd overall, fourth-most in club history. It highlighted the fact that while his home run total, 35, is 19 shy of last season's club record, he's hitting .333 and remains among the A.L. leaders in numerous offensive categories, including average, RBI, home runs, runs, total bases, doubles, walks, OBP, slugging percentage, extra base hits and more.
