Boston ? Johnny Damon thinks he should be in the All-Star game. It’s hard to disagree after his performance Wednesday night.

His bases-loaded triple highlighted a six-run fifth inning as the Boston Red Sox and Pedro Martinez overcame three Cleveland homers and beat the Indians 7-4.

Damon also made two outstanding catches in center field as the Red Sox ended their season-long four-game losing streak and moved back into first place in the AL East over the New York Yankees, who lost to Baltimore.

Damon led Boston after Cleveland took a 4-0 lead through 41/2 innings on homers by Ellis Burks, Jim Thome and Ben Broussard. Martinez (9-2) allowed just six homers in his other 15 starts.

Damon, signed as a free agent last December, is batting .322 with a .377 average with runners in scoring position. His 60th run gave him the AL lead and his sixth triple tied him for first. He’s also among the league leaders in hits and stolen bases.

“Where our team is and how we’re playing, I feel I deserve” to be in the All-Star game, Damon said.

Damon is sixth among AL outfielders in All-Star voting. The likelier presence of Boston teammates Martinez, Derek Lowe, Shea Hillenbrand, Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra on the team could hurt him.

Martinez was far from his best, although he had nine strikeouts in seven innings. The last one, against Broussard in the seventh, made him the seventh active pitcher with 2,100 strikeouts.

He gave up no walks and five hits, but three were homers and one was a double in the seventh by Bill Selby.

Devil Rays 4, Blue Jays 2

St. Petersburg, Fla. Tanyon Sturtze ended the longest losing streak by an AL pitcher this year, stopping his eight-game skid.

Jared Sandberg and Aubrey Huff hit sixth-inning home runs as Tampa Bay beat Steve Parris (0-1) to break a six-game losing streak. Sturtze (1-8) allowed two runs in seven innings.

Esteban Yan worked the ninth for his 10th save.

Orioles 8, Yankees 7

Baltimore Gary Matthews Jr. singled off Steve Karsay with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, stole second and scored on Tony Batista’s single for the Orioles.

It was the fourth straight victory for the Orioles, who roughed up Roger Clemens early before beating up on the New York bullpen in the ninth. Mike Stanton (3-1) took the loss.

Willis Roberts (5-2) worked out of a jam in the top of the ninth, retiring Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi with the go-ahead run in scoring position.

Twins 6, White Sox 5

Minneapolis Bobby Kielty drove in a career-high four runs to lead Minnesota, which played without manager Ron Gardenhire. He left the team before the game to be with his family in Oklahoma after the death of his father. Batting coach Scott Ullger took over as acting manager. Carlos Lee homered twice for the White Sox, who have just one win in their last six games. Kyle Lohse (7-5) beat Todd Ritchie (4-10).

Angels 7, Rangers 6

Arlington, Texas Garret Anderson hit an RBI double with two outs in the ninth inning as the Angels snapped the Rangers’ eight-game winning streak. The Angels scored four runs in the eighth off John Rocker to erase a 6-2 deficit before winning it in the ninth. Adam Kennedy singled with one out against Hideki Irabu (3-7) and went to second on Tim Salmon’s two-out hit.

Mariners, 1, Athletics 0

Seattle Jamie Moyer and a pair of relievers combined on a two-hitter, and Jeff Cirillo grounded an RBI single in the eighth inning in Seattle’s win. Cirillo’s one-out hit up the middle came off Chad Bradford (3-2) after Charles Gipson singled and stole second. Moyer blanked the Athletics on two hits for seven innings. Shigetoshi Hasegawa (4-1) pitched a hitless eighth, while Kazuhiro Sasaki got his 18th save.