Boston ? The New York Yankees completed a historic five-game sweep at Fenway Park, beating Boston, 2-1, Monday behind six shutout innings by Cory Lidle and extending their AL East lead to a season-high 61â2 games over the Red Sox.

New York became the first team to sweep a five-game series from the Red Sox since Cleveland in 1954. The Yankees, who swept Boston in five games in New York in 1951 and at Fenway in ’43, never have failed to finish first when leading by as many as 61â2 games.

The series was reminiscent of the 1978 “Boston Massacre,” when the Yankees came to Fenway in September with a four-game deficit, left tied for the division lead and won the AL East in a one-game playoff.

Lidle (2-2) allowed three hits and five walks. After Wily Mo Pena homered off Scott Proctor in the eighth, Kyle Farnsworth finished for his second save.

Bobby Abreu hit an RBI double in the sixth off David Wells (2-3), and Keith Foulke threw a run-scoring wild pitch in the eighth.

Athletics 12, Blue Jays 10

Toronto – Oakland rallied from an eight-run deficit to win.

Bobby Kielty homered and drove in four runs for the AL West-leading A’s, who tied an Oakland record for the biggest comeback.

Dan Haren (12-9) set an Oakland record by getting the victory despite allowing nine runs. Justin Duchscherer closed for his fourth save. Brandon League (0-1) took the loss.

Tigers 7, White Sox 1

Detroit – In the opener of a possibly pivotal four-game series in the AL Central, Justin Verlander (15-6) gave up one run and five hits over seven innings for his first win since Aug. 1.

Detroit had lost nine of its previous 12 games, and its division lead – which bulged to 10 games on Aug. 7 – was down to 51â2 games.

Devil Rays 4, Rangers 3

St. Petersburg, Fla. – James Shields (6-6) won consecutive starts for the first time since mid-June, giving up three runs and eight hits in six innings. After winning four straight starts in June, he went 0-6 in nine starts, then ended his skid by defeating Toronto on Aug. 16.

Russell Branyan hit a tiebreaking single in the fifth off Adam Eaton (3-3), who allowed four runs and 11 hits in five innings.

Seth McClung got three outs for his first major-league save.