I’M HOME: Chicago White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham (R) turns the first half of a double play as New York Yankees Curtis Granderson is out on the play during the first inning of their MLB American League baseball game in Chicago. (Reuters

Reuters/Boston

Jacoby Ellsbury lined a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to keep the Boston Red Sox in first place in the American League East with a 3-2 triumph over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday.
Ellsbury came to the plate with one out in the ninth and the game tied at 2-2, and drove a pitch into the outfield against Cleveland reliever Vinnie Pestano to end the game.
“You’re always looking for that opportunity,” Ellsbury told reporters. “To end the game like that with a ‘W’ on one swing of the bat. Those are exciting.”
With the win, the Red Sox (67-41) maintained their one-game lead in both the division and the American League over the New York Yankees (66-42), who beat the Chicago White Sox in a rain-shortened affair.
Boston starter Josh Beckett allowed two runs in six innings of a no-decision, as the home side fell 2-1 behind before Kevin Youkilis tied the game with a solo homer in the sixth.
Closer Jonathan Papelbon (3-0) pitched a perfect ninth to pick up the victory after reliever Franklin Morales fired two scoreless innings for the Red Sox.
“Extremely big,” Boston manager Terry Francona said of Morales’ contribution. “He gives us not just one, but two innings (and) sets it up where we’re not scoring a bunch of runs.”
Cleveland twice took the lead in the game on a Jason Kipnis home run in the first inning, and then a homer from Lonnie Chisenhall in the fourth.
Starter David Huff kept the Indians in the game by pitching five innings and allowing just one run, but his team could not hold on.
The loss dropped Cleveland (54-53) three games behind the first-placed Detroit Tigers in the AL Central.
Meanwhile, New York slugger Mark Teixeira hit home runs from both sides of the plate for the 12th game of his career to set a new Major League record in the Yankees’ 6-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday.
Teixeira blasted a right-handed two-run homer in the third inning then added a solo blast from the opposite side of the plate in the seventh to launch himself into the record books in a game shortened to 6 ½ innings because of rain.
The first-baseman surpassed former players Eddie Murray and Chili Davis, who each recorded 11 career games with a homer from both sides of the plate.
“When you can put your name in the record books to something like this—being a switch-hitter is very tough, and this was a nice night for me,” Teixeira told reporters.
Teixeira’s double blast took him to 31 home runs for the season, one behind Major League-leading Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays.