With a few more wins like this, the New York Yankees will be in position to overtake the Boston Red Sox and win their 10th straight AL East title.

Alex Rodriguez capped a six-run eighth inning with a tiebreaking single off Jonathan Papelbon, and the Yankees rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the Red Sox 8-7 last night.

“You kind of feel like you stole one,” said Mr. Rodriguez, who called it the Yankees’ “biggest win of the year.”

New York trailed 7-2 when Jason Giambi homered off Hideki Okajima. Four pitches later, Robinson Cano went deep against the Japanese reliever.
Melky Cabrera walked, Johnny Damon singled, and in came Papelbon (1-3) to get six outs.

Mr. Papelbon gave up an RBI single to Derek Jeter on his first pitch, threw a called strike to Bobby Abreu, then gave up Mr. Abreu’s double of the center-field wall. Rodriguez ripped an 0-1 pitch to center field.

“It came apart in a hurry,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said.

Meanwhile, Greg Dobbs hit a pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, lifting the Philadelphia Phillies to a 3-2 victory over the New York Mets in the opener of a crucial weekend series.

Philadelphia picked up its sixth straight victory against the Mets — five have been by two runs or fewer and two came in extra innings — and has won five of its past seven overall.

“In tough situations with a team over and over again, you get yourself real familiar with everything they’re trying to do and vice versa,” shortstop Jimmy Rollins said.

On a night where the Mets’ Tom Glavine and the Phillies’ Jamie Moyer pitched well but failed to get decisions, Philadelphia picked up its major league-leading 44th come-from-behind win and cut the Mets’ lead to 5½ games in the division.

The Phillies and Mets were playing the first matchup between the top teams in the division since Philadelphia swept a four-game series last month to cut its deficit to two games. New York responded by winning 10 of 12.

“They’ve played well late in games and we haven’t,” Mets third baseman David Wright said. “We had our opportunities tonight offensively and didn’t cash in.”

Jayson Werth led off the 10th inning with a single off Aaron Heilman (7-7). Carlos Ruiz popped a bunt foul but backup catcher Mike DiFelice, who entered after Paul Lo Duca was ejected in the ninth, couldn’t bring it in.

Given another chance, Ruiz got the sacrifice down and Heilman threw the ball into center field, giving Philadelphia runners on first and second. Abraham Nunez advanced both runners with another sacrifice, and Dobbs’ fly ball to center field made it 3-2.

Tom Gordon (3-2) struck out three in 1 1-3 scoreless innings to get the win and Brett Myers got three outs for his 16th save.

Philadelphia tied it at 2 in the sixth when Chase Utley hit a two-run homer. But Mr. Glavine settled down after that, giving up five hits in 7 2-3 innings.

“You kind of walk away with an empty feeling,” Mr. Glavine said. “There’s not a lot I can do. You just go out there and try and pitch well, give us an opportunity to win the game.”

Mr. Wright hit the first pitch he saw from Mr. Moyer into the bleachers in left to give New York a 1-0 lead in the first. Moises Alou added an RBI single in the fourth inning before the 44-year-old Mr. Moyer settled in.

“I don’t why we play them so well,” Mr. Dobbs said. “It’s a pretty big rivalry. We’ve been the underdog the whole season.”<