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Devil Rays trounce Red Sox

Mark Hendrickson won his sixth straight decision and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays held on to beat Boston 8-7 on Monday night, trimming the Red Sox`s lead in the AL East over the New York Yankees to one-half game. It is the closest the Yankees, who beat Baltimore 3-2 on Monday, have been since July 26, when they were one game behind.

Jorge Cantu put the Devil Rays ahead 7-4 in the sixth with two-run homer off Jonathan Papelbon. He has 107 RBIs this year, tying the team record set by Aubrey Huff in 2003. Hendrickson (10-7) tied Victor Zambrano`s franchise mark established last year with his six-game winning streak. He gave up six runs and eight hits in 6 1-3 innings.

David Ortiz drove in four runs, two on a double in the seventh that got Boston within 7-6 and another on his 44th homer that made it 8-7 with two outs in the ninth. The Devil Rays had gone ahead 8-6 in the eighth on an RBI grounder by Jonny Gomes.