St. Petersburg, Fla. ? Suddenly, Tampa Bay is not playing like a last-place team.

The Devil Rays matched their longest winning streak of the season with their fourth straight victory, beating Curt Schilling and the Boston Red Sox, 4-3, Monday night on Aubrey Huff’s two-out RBI double in the 10th inning.

“We let one slip away,” Red Sox pitcher David Wells said. “This team is not easy as everybody thinks. They’ve got a good ballclub over there. They make things happen, so you’ve got to make good pitches.”

Jorge Cantu scored from first base when the game-winning hit off Schilling (2-4) soared over right fielder Trot Nixon’s head and caromed off the wall past Nixon to end Boston’s first extra-inning game of the season.

“I knew it was over his head. I just wanted a good kick off the wall,” Huff said.

Schilling lost for the second time since returning from the disabled list on July 13 and taking over the closer’s job instead of moving back into the starting rotation. He didn’t think he threw that bad of a pitch to Huff.

“I didn’t think that would end the game right there, but he hit it well, a lot better than I thought he did,” Schilling said.

Jesus Colome (2-2) pitched 21â3 innings for the win as Tampa Bay, which swept Baltimore over the weekend, improved to 8-3 since the All-Star break. Boston’s lead in the AL East shrunk to one game over second-place New York.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays teammates swarm Aubrey Huff, second from right, after his game-winning RBI double in the 10th inning. Huff's heroics led Tampa Bay over Boston, 4-3, Monday in St. Petersburg, Fla., giving the Devil Rays their fourth straight victory.

Colome got out of a jam in the ninth by first tagging out pinch-runner Adam Stern in a rundown between third and home and then getting major-league RBI leader Manny Ramirez to fly out with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Nixon singled and stole second in the 10th. But the Red Sox caught a bad break when John Olerud’s ground single between shortstop and second base hit Nixon in the leg, and the Boston runner was ruled out.

“We’re getting breaks we haven’t gotten in the first half,” Huff said. “I don’t see anything different except our pitching is getting it done now.”

The Red Sox set a major-league record to start a season by not playing extra-innings until their 99th game.

Schilling pitched a perfect ninth before giving up a leadoff single to Carl Crawford in the 10th. Cantu reached on a fielder’s choice, bunting into a force play.

“I thought he was throwing very well,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said of Schilling. “A good hitter did what you don’t want him to do.”

Wells, who hasn’t lost to the Devil Rays since 1999, allowed three runs and nine hits over 61â3 innings. He was lifted after giving up one-out singles to Toby Hall and Nick Green, and reliever Mike Timlin was unable to keep Tampa Bay from tying the game.

Julio Lugo’s RBI single off Timlin wiped out a 3-2 lead the Red Sox took on Johnny Damon’s two-run homer off Travis Harper in the top of the seventh. Bill Mueller drove in Boston’s first run with a second-inning RBI single off Devil Rays starter Doug Waechter.

The Devil Rays tied it 1-all on Hall’s sacrifice fly in the second after wasting an opportunity to get off to a quick start when Wells gave up a double to Lugo and single to Crawford to begin the game, but escaped the jam.

Rangers 4, Orioles 2

Baltimore – Alfonso Soriano homered among his three hits and drove in two runs, helping Texas stop its slide.

Joaquin Benoit (2-1) blanked Baltimore on four hits over five innings in his second start of the season. The first came Wednesday, when he allowed six runs in five innings in a loss to the New York Yankees.

Francisco Cordero, the fifth Texas pitcher, worked the ninth for his 23rd save.

Athletics 13, Indians 4

Oakland, Calif. – Eric Chavez homered twice and drove in four runs, Barry Zito pitched six strong innings to win his sixth start in a row, and Oakland defeated Cleveland for its seventh straight victory.

Mark Ellis hit a two-run double, Scott Hatteberg had a two-run single and scored twice, Dan Johnson and Jason Kendall drove in two runs apiece, and Bobby Kielty added an RBI double as the streaking A’s took over sole possession of the AL wild-card lead.

Mariners 5, Tigers 3

Seattle – Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre hit consecutive home runs in the fourth inning for the Mariners. J.J. Putz (4-3) got the win with one inning of scoreless relief. Eddie Guardado pitched the ninth for his 22nd straight save and his 23rd in 24 opportunities overall.