Boston's Manny Ramirez, right, celebrates with teammates David Ortiz and Julio Lugo (23) after his game-winning home run. The Red Sox defeated Seattle, 8-7, on Thursday night in Boston.

Boston ? Manny Ramirez finally has his offense going, and he stood still to admire his work.

Coming off the worst April of his 14-year career, the Red Sox slugger broke an eighth-inning tie with his second homer, leading Boston to an 8-7 win over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night.

When the ball flew off his bat toward the right-center field bleachers, Ramirez stood in the batter’s box for four seconds. When it landed there, beyond Boston’s bullpen, he was just 10 feet down the first-base line before starting to run.

“The timing was perfect,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “He absolutely leaned on it. He hit that ball like a power left-hand hitter. I can see why he probably admired it.”

After Seattle blew a 5-0 lead, admiration was the furthest thing from manager Mike Hargrove’s mind for the call on a 2-1 pitch, when the umpires ruled Ramirez checked his swing. The next pitch was a called strike and Ramirez hit a 3-2 changeup from Chris Reitsma (0-1) for the go-ahead homer, helped by a wind blowing from left to right.

“We had Manny struck out, plain and simple,” an angry Hargrove said.

Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka struck out just one batter in five innings as he struggled with his control for the second consecutive game. He walked the first three batters and trailed 5-0 after one inning. Boston took a 7-5 lead then allowed Seattle to retie the game before Ramirez’s 475th homer.

His .202 batting average in April was his lowest ever for that month. And he was in a 2-for-23 slump before getting two hits in each of his last four games.

“His track record says when he gets hot he doesn’t get hot with singles. He drives in a lot of runs,” Francona said. “He took some healthy swings tonight.”

Brendan Donnelly (1-1) got the win two days after his first loss in 10 decisions since Aug. 12, 2005. J.C. Romero got three outs for his first save as Boston stretched its AL East lead to 51â2 games.

Matsuzaka allowed seven runs, five hits and five walks. He has a 5.45 ERA and has walked 15 in 38 innings.

“During the past few games, the manager, the coaching staff and (catcher Jason Varitek) have all told me to be confident in my own stuff,” he said through a translator. “I definitely know that I need to change something.”

Pitching coach John Farrell said Matsuzaka’s body is getting too far in front of his arm during his delivery.

“He fought himself from the first pitch of the game,” Farrell said.

Seattle lost for the second time in nine games.

The game was a makeup of an April 12 rainout. The Mariners still have five postponements to make up, four of them because of snow in Cleveland.

For his second straight start, Matsuzaka walked the bases loaded then rebounded. He walked the first three batters and allowed the first eight to reach base. Then he retired the next 10.

Yankees 4-5, Rangers 3-2

Arlington, Texas – Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina gave the Yankees the type of starts New York has been missing for much of the season, and Mariano Rivera came through twice.

The bullpen didn’t hold the lead for Pettitte but held for Mussina in his return from the disabled list. With Hideki Matsui hitting a tiebreaking double in the eighth inning of the opener and Doug Mientkiewicz supplying an early two-run homer in the second game, the Yankees beat Texas twice to sweep a three-game series from the Rangers.

Rivera saved two games in one day for the fifth time in his major league career, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the first since Sept. 29, 2004, against Minnesota.

Indians 6, Blue Jays 5

Cleveland – Grady Sizemore hit a tiebreaking double in the eighth inning, and Cleveland rallied from a four-run deficit to beat Toronto and complete a three-game sweep.

Victor Martinez had four hits for Cleveland, which trailed 4-0 in the third inning of Cliff Lee’s first start of the season but came back for its 10th win in 11 games following a 7-7 start.

Devil Rays 6, Twins 4

St. Petersburg, Fla. – James Shields gave up three runs over 71â3 innings, and Rocco Baldelli had a two-run homer as Tampa Bay beat Minnesota.

Shields (3-0) allowed nine hits, including singles to the final two batters he faced in the eighth. He worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fifth by striking out Joe Mauer and getting Justin Morneau to hit into a double play.

Baldelli homered off Ramon Ortiz (3-2) during a four-run third that put the Devil Rays ahead 4-1.