Red Sox 6, Indians 2

Cleveland – Jon Lester crowned his courageous comeback with a victory.

The young pitcher, whose rookie season ended suddenly when he was diagnosed with cancer, pitched six innings to win his first game in 11 months and lead the Boston Red Sox over the Cleveland Indians, 6-2, on Monday night.

Working to major leaguers while his parents sat on the edge of their seats near Boston’s dugout, Lester allowed two runs and five hits to easily handle the Indians, the AL’s best team at home.

Blue Jays 6, Twins 4

Toronto – Frank Thomas homered twice to raise his total to 503 and pull within one of Eddie Murray for 20th place as the Toronto Blue Jays sent Johan Santana to a rare second-half loss, beating the Minnesota Twins 6-4 Monday night.

Tigers 9, White Sox 6

Chicago – Mike Hessman hit a go-ahead two-run single with two outs in the seventh inning to lead the Detroit Tigers past the Chicago White Sox 9-6 on Monday night.

Rangers 8, Mariners 7

Arlington, Texas – Sammy Sosa snapped out of an extended drought with career home run No. 603 and five RBIs to rally the Texas Rangers to an 8-7 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Monday night.

Sosa’s three-run homer in the fifth broke a 3-3 tie and was his 15th this season – one more than he had in 102 games for Baltimore in 2005 before sitting out last year.

Athletics 12, Angels 6

Anaheim, Calif. – Mike Piazza hit a three-run homer and an RBI double Monday night as the Oakland Athletics’ offense came to life in a 12-6 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

Mark Ellis added a pair of solo homers and had an RBI double for the A’s, who won for the third time in 14 games.