St. Petersburg, Fla. ? When Carl Crawford homers, he makes it count.

Crawford’s first homer since opening day, a three-run drive with one out in the ninth inning, gave the Devil Rays a 4-3 victory Friday over the Chicago White Sox night and consecutive wins for the first time in seven weeks.

Crawford drove a 0-1 pitch from Billy Koch (5-5) into the right-field seats after Javier Valentin walked and pinch-hitter Al Martin singled.

“I didn’t think it was going out. I was saying: ‘Go ball go,’ the whole time,” Crawford said.

Crawford also hit a three-run homer in the ninth to beat Boston March 31.

“I thought it might be my last one,” he said. “I didn’t know when the next one was coming, but I’ll take it.”

Jesus Colome (2-4) pitched one inning and won despite giving up a solo homer to Brian Daubach in the top of the ninth. Roberto Alomar drove in Chicago’s other two runs for his first RBIs with the White Sox.

Tampa Bay won consecutive games for the first time since May 15-16. Chicago, which had won six of its previous seven, came within two outs of climbing over .500 for the first time since May 2.

The Devil Rays will try to win three in a row for the first time all year today. Manager Lou Piniella has promised to dye his hair if the last-place team wins three straight at any point in the season.

Chicago White Sox second baseman Roberto Alomar, left, forces out Tampa Bay's Travis Lee on a ground ball. The Devil Rays beat the White Sox, 4-3, Friday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

“It’s been so long, I’ve forgotten it,” Piniella said when reminded of the vow. “But if they go out and win tomorrow, they’ll get it.”

White Sox starter Bartolo Colon allowed one run and eight hits in 62/3 innings. Koch, who struck out Jason Tyner to begin the ninth, blew a save for the fourth time in 15 chances.

“It’s a tough loss. Any time you lose with a three-run homer against your closer, that’s a tough loss. There’s no doubt about it,” said Chicago manager Jerry Manuel, adding that Koch’s performance has him considering other options for the closer role.

Twins 9, Indians 2

Minneapolis — Justin Morneau and Corey Koskie each hit a two-run homer, and Rick Reed won for the first time since May 25 as Minnesota beat Cleveland in a game that featured five ejections after the benches cleared in the third inning.

One night after the Twins accused Cleveland pitcher C.C. Sabathia of throwing at their hitters, Minnesota’s Torii Hunter took exception to an inside pitch from Jason Davis and shouted at him.

Davis yelled at Hunter to get back in the box, and both benches and bullpens cleared as players poured onto the field.

No punches were thrown, but Hunter had to be restrained by two Twins coaches. Hunter, Davis and Sabathia were ejected, as were Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire and Cleveland skipper Eric Wedge.

Koskie homered off Davis (7-7) immediately before Hunter came to the plate.

Reed (4-8) allowed one run in seven innings.

Red Sox 10, Yankees 3

New York — The Boston Red Sox hit a record seven home runs off the New York Yankees. Switch-hitter Bill Mueller homered from both sides of the plate, Jason Varitek and David Ortiz each homered twice and Manny Ramirez also connected. All of Boston’s runs came on homers, making it easy for Derek Lowe (10-3) to win his career-high seventh straight decision. David Wells (10-3) set a career high for most homers allowed and matched the team record — in just 5 2/3 innings.

Orioles 8, Blue Jays 5

Baltimore — Brook Fordyce doubled in two runs to give the Baltimore the lead during an eight-run eighth inning. All eight runs scored with two outs. The Orioles got seven hits, two walks and sent 12 players to the plate in the inning. Toronto’s Kelvim Escobar took a 5-0 lead into the eighth, then allowed a two-out, two-run single to Jeff Conine and a single by Jay Gibbons before being replaced by Aquilino Lopez (1-2). Travis Driskill (2-3) got the win.

Angels 1, Athletics 0

Oakland, Calif. — Aaron Sele and three relievers combined on a two-hitter as Anaheim beat Oakland.

Sele (5-6) went the first five innings, his limit mandated by manager Mike Scioscia for at least a couple starts.Mark Mulder (11-6) was equally effective, allowing just three hits in his major league-leading sixth complete game. He struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.

Rangers 7, Mariners 3

Arlington, Texas — Juan Gonzalez hit a three-run homer — his first in almost a month — and Texas used a five-run fourth inning to rally.

Texas starter Victor Santos allowed three runs, four hits and five walks, and wasn’t around to collect his first win as a Ranger. After a walk to Edgar Martinez leading off the fifth, Texas manager Buck Showalter brought in R.A. Dickey (4-3).

Seattle’s Freddy Garcia (9-7) allowed seven runs and nine hits over 6 1/3 innings.