ANAHEIM, Calif. — Considering how well they're playing, the Los Angeles Angels would love to start the postseason right now.

But that's not the way it works, so they're doing their best to stay in the moment.

Casey Kotchman hit a two-run double to cap a three-run rally in the eighth inning, Francisco Rodriguez became the fastest pitcher to 40 saves in big league history, and the Angels beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-3, yesterday for their fifth victory in a row.

With another late comeback, the Angels completed their first three-game sweep of Boston in seven years. They scored four runs in the seventh Saturday for a 4-2 win.

"We've got a long road ahead of us," manager Mike Scioscia said. "We played well this weekend, (but) I don't see any carry-over. The season's more than this weekend. We have to keep going."

Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter homered on consecutive pitches for the Angels, who became the first team in the majors to reach 60 wins. The victory was their fifth in six meetings with Boston, enabling them to clinch their first season series against the Red Sox since 2001.

The AL West leaders, 39-18 against teams with winning records, are a season-high 22 games over .500 and lead second-place Oakland by nine games. None of the other five division leaders has more than a two-game cushion.

"It feels good, but there's a lot of baseball left," said Howie Kendrick, who doubled home the tying run. "Any time you beat these guys, it's a big deal. We're just happy to come out with a couple wins and keep rolling."

The Red Sox held a 3-2 lead and knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (6-7) had retired 17 of 19 batters before Juan Rivera and Kendrick hit back-to-back doubles to start the eighth and tie the score.

Manny Delcarmen relieved and Jeff Mathis sacrificed Kendrick to third before Chone Figgins drew a walk. Kotchman followed by lining a 1-1 off-speed pitch into the right-field corner to drive in Kendrick and Figgins.

Yankees 2, Athletics 1: Andy Pettitte (11-7) gave up a run and four hits in eight innings, Jason Giambi homered and Alex Rodriguez had a sacrifice fly to help visiting New York complete a three-game sweep of Oakland, which has lost five in a row.

Blue Jays 9, Rays 4: Alex Rios had a two-run homer in the third and a run-scoring double during a three-run seventh, and Marco Scutaro hit a three-run shot in the fifth as visiting Toronto beat Tampa Bay to avoid a three-game sweep.

Indians 6, Mariners 2: Cliff Lee (13-2) pitched his second complete game of the season, scattering 11 hits, to become the AL's first 13-game winner, and Kelly Shoppach ended an 0-for-13 funk with a three-run homer to lead visiting Cleveland over Seattle.

Rangers 1, Twins 0: Taylor Teagarden broke up Scott Baker's perfect-game bid with a sixth-inning home run for his first major league hit, and Vicente Padilla (11-5), activated from the disabled list before the game, gave up three hits in seven innings as Texas beat Minnesota.

Tigers 5, Orioles 1: Justin Verlander (8-0) came within an out of completing a three-hitter for his eighth straight victory, and visiting Detroit got home runs from Magglio Ordonez and Marcus Thames to hand Baltimore its 15th consecutive Sunday loss.

Royals 8, White Sox 7: Esteban German hit a go-ahead, two-run double in the top of the eighth, and left fielder Jose Guillen threw out A.J. Pierzynski at the plate on Brian Anderson's single in the bottom of the inning as Kansas City held off Chicago.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

MARLINS 3, PHILLIES 2: Jorge Cantu hit a bases-loaded single off the left-field scoreboard with none out in the bottom of the 11th inning as Florida closed to one-half game of NL East Division co-leaders Philadelphia and New York.

Mets 7, Reds 5: Third baseman Edwin Encarnacion hit one of Cincinnati's three homers off Mike Pelfrey, but made a throwing error in the top of the 10th inning that helped New York rally to gain a split of a four-game series.

Dodgers 6, Diamondbacks 5: Andre Ethier hit a go-ahead triple to highlight a five-run rally in the top of the ninth inning to help Los Angeles take two of three from Arizona and pull even with the Diamondbacks atop the NL West.

Cubs 9, Astros 0: Ryan Dempster (11-4) scattered six hits in eight innings to earn his first road win in two years and Mike Fontenot hit a solo homer and a two-run double as Chicago beat Houston to snap a three-game losing streak.

Rockies 11, Pirates 3: Matt Holliday and Jeff Baker homered, and Aaron Cook (12-6) was roughed up for three runs in the first but gave up just one hit over his final six innings as host Colorado completed a four-game sweep of Pittsburgh.

Brewers 7, Giants 4: Ryan Braun hit a three-run homer and drove in five runs, and Manny Parra (9-2) gave up two runs and seven hits in 7 2/3 innings and added an RBI single as visiting Milwaukee completed a six-game season sweep of San Francisco.

Nationals 15, Braves 6: Former Braves outfielder Willie Harris drove in five runs and reached base five times, Jesus Flores had five hits and Austin Kearns hit a two-run shot as visiting Washington outscored Atlanta 23-8 to win the last two games of the series.

Cardinals 9, Padres 5: Aaron Miles' grand slam in the ninth inning, the first game-ending hit of his career, helped host St. Louis recover from another blown save by Jason Isringhausen and wrap up a four-game sweep of San Diego.