East title trumps loss for Red Sox

Boston clinches despite blown lead against Yankees.

Even though they let a win get away Wednesday night, the Boston Red Sox locked up something more important. And as far as they were concerned, an AL East title was certainly worth celebrating.

Boston clinched the division championship despite wasting a three-run lead in the ninth inning of a 5-3 loss to the Yankees. David Ortiz and the Red Sox, who last weekend secured at least a wild-card spot in the playoffs, were assured the crown when Baltimore rallied for a 3-2 win at second-place Toronto nearly 30 minutes before New York completed its comeback against Craig Kimbrel (2-5) and Joe Kelly.

Mark Teixeira’s two-out grand slam off Kelly won it for the Yankees.

“In the end, the one inning, it doesn’t take away from 158 games played to date. They should be extremely proud for winning a very, very difficult division,” manager John Farrell said.

Though the final score in Toronto was posted on the out-of-town scoreboard for all to see, the Red Sox hardly seemed to notice as players draped their arms over the dugout railing and rooted for Kimbrel in the ninth.

Farrell and other Red Sox said they knew the Blue Jays had lost and what that meant, but they were focused on closing out their own game at the time.

Red Sox executives, however, jumped out of their front-row seats next to the Boston dugout and rejoiced when the Blue Jays’ game ended.

Tigers-Indians postponement: Thurs day ’s g a me bet ween the Detroit and Cleveland was postponed bec ause of bad weather, and the teams could have to squeeze in a makeup game Monday if it could affec t who makes the postseason. Detroit entered Thursday one game behind Baltimore for the AL’s second wild card.

Giants: Infielder Eduardo Nunez still hopes to return from a hamstring injury this weekend for the season-ending series against the Dodgers as San Francisco pursues a wild-card berth, but manager Bruce Bochy considers it “questionable.”

Nationals: Pitcher Joe Ross, working his way back from the disabled list for the NL East champions, threw 90 pitches in a four-inning start Thursday against the Diamondbacks.

Dodgers: L e f t - hander Hyun-Jin Ryu underwent an arthroscopic cleanup of his left elbow and is expected to be ready for the 2017 season.

Blue Jays: DH/first baseman Je s u s Monte ro was suspended 50 games after testing positive for a stimulant, his second penalty for a banned substance. Montero spent this season with Toronto’s Triple-A Buffalo team, batting . 317 with 11 home runs and 60 RBIs.

Padres: Rookie Hunter Renfroe hit the first home run in Petco Park history to land on the roof of the brick warehouse during Wednesday night’s victory over the Dodgers.

D i a mond b a c k s : S e c - ond baseman Jean Segura left Thursday’s game with a cramp, slowing his bid to set the franchise single-season record for hits. Segura has 201 hits, five short of Luis Gonzalez’s record in 1999.

Angels: Right-hander Garrett Richards threw off the mound to hitters for the first time since tearing his ulnar collateral ligament May 1. Richards will throw another bullpen session this weekend before continuing his rehabilitation in the instructional league.