(Sports Network) - Its not a matter of if the Boston Red Sox are going to clinch a postseason spot, its a matter of when. The Beantown faithful hope its Thursday, as the Red Sox try to salvage the finale of their three-game series with the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park. Boston could have clinched at least a wild card berth on Wednesday with a win over the Os coupled with a Cleveland loss in Kansas City. The Royals did their part in taking out the Indians, but Boston failed to hold up its end of the bargain, as Chris Davis two-run single in the 12th inning proved to be the difference in Baltimores 5-3 triumph. "Anytime youre in a game like that, you want to be the guy that gets the hit," said Davis. "Whether its a squirter up the middle or a home run or whatever it is." Matt Wieters doubled twice and drove in two, while Brian Roberts added two hits and an RBI for the Orioles, who have taken three in a row and four of five. T.J. McFarland (2-1) tossed a scoreless 11th and Jim Johnson did the same in the bottom of the 12th for his 47th save as Baltimore crept within a game of Texas for the final AL wild card spot as the Rangers fell in extra innings to Tampa Bay. David Ortiz hit a two-run shot and Mike Napoli added a solo blast for the Red Sox, whose magic number for clinching the AL East remains at three. "I felt like we hit a lot of balls hard, I think it was 17 hits or something but we just couldnt get that big hit," said Red Sox catcher David Ross. Franklin Morales (2-2) was charged for three hits and the winning runs over two relief innings. The champagne may stay on ice Thursday, too, as the Red Sox go up against right-hander Chris Tillman, who is 16-6 with a 3.70 ERA. Tillman, though, has lost two of his last three starts and was beaten by Toronto his last time out, as he gave up four runs in eight innings. Tillman, who has pitched eight innings in four of his last 11 outings, is 3-0 with a 1.42 ERA in four starts against the Red Sox this year, including a win on Aug. 29, when he held them to two runs over seven innings at Fenway Park. Boston, meanwhile, will rely on veteran right-hander John Lackey, who is 9-12 with a 3.56 ERA. Lackey will be happy to be facing a team other than the New York Yankees, who roughed him up to the tune of 11 runs and 15 hits in his last two outings spanning 12 innings. Lackey has pitched to a 4.35 ERA in three starts against the Orioles. Baltimore has won nine of its 15 meetings with the Red Sox this season. Air Max 1 Sale Ireland . -- Derek Jeter says the New York Yankees have no choice but to move forward now that Alex Rodriguez has accepted his suspension for the 2014 season. Air Max 1 Sale Cheap . It was my fifth straight year attending and, as always, there are many interesting matters discussed as it pertains to the use of statistics in sports. http://www.cheapairmax1ireland.com/. And fellow Leaf, Jake Gardiner, hiking in Whistler. Cheap Air Max 1 Sale . Edwin Encarnacion carried the torch for two days at Fenway Park this week; Melky Cabrera and Jose Bautista have had their moments; lately Anthony Gose has contributed. Cheap Air Max 1 Ireland .K. Subban and Matt Duchene will be the two skaters sitting out the teams opening game.HOUSTON -- Before leaving for a seven-game trip last on July 18, the Miami Marlins had won just once in their previous seven games. What a difference a week made. Garrett Jones and Marcell Ozuna homered to lead the Marlins over the Houston Astros 4-2 Sunday to complete a three game sweep and a 6-1 trip. Its the first time theyve ever swept in Houston and was their first series sweep since beating the Rays in consecutive two-game series from June 2-5. "It feels good that we were able to come in here and not have a letdown after a great series in Atlanta," Miami manager Mike Redmond said. "I think thats probably the biggest thing. We did what we needed to do to win, and thats a good feeling out there right now." Jones homer capped a three-run first for the Marlins, and Ozuna padded the lead with his solo shot in the sixth. "It was huge to get this last win and head home and confidence is high," Jones said. "Weve got the Nationals coming in so its going to be a big next few games. It was good to have a good road trip and just take that confidence going back home and continue playing good baseball." Jacob Turner (4-6) allowed one run and six hits in 5 2-3 innings to win his second start since moving from the bullpen. "I really just felt like I had to battle all day, didnt have my best stuff," Turner said. "But at the same time made some pitches when I needed to, got out of jams and that was huge." Steve Cishek allowed one run in the ninth before getting his 26th save in 29 chances. Houstons Collin McHugh (4-9), back from a disabled list stint caused by a finger blister, made his first start since July 6 and gave up four runs and seven hits 6 1-3 innings with nine strikeouts for his sixth straight loss. "When you start talking ... (records) for a starting pitcher, a lot of things have to go righht," manager Bo Porter said.dddddddddddd "You can pitch well and still not factor into the decision. Weve got to score runs. Thats pretty much the difference in the game." Jose Altuve hit a leadoff homer, and Jon Singleton had a solo drive in the ninth for the Astros, who have lost five in a row and eight of 10. Altuve homered and singled twice for his second straight three-hit game and 18th this year. He leads the major leagues with a .344 average and 148 hits, and he also swiped his AL-best 42nd base. Miamis Giancarlo Stanton struck out four times and has fanned in six straight at-bats. Christian Yelich hit a leadoff single and scored on a triple by Jordany Valdespin, who came home on Casey McGehees sacrifice fly. Jones made it 3-0 with his 11th homer, a drive about five rows into the eight-field stands. Altuves second leadoff homer of the season and third of his career cut the lead to 3-1 in the bottom half. Ozuna extended the lead to 4-1 with a sixth-inning homer into the Crawford Boxes in left. Singletons ninth-inning homer off Cishek was his first since July 7 and stopped an 0 for 11 skid. "Its been a while since I hit a ball hard," said Singleton, who is hitting just .178. "Its always nice when you can hit a ball like. Hopefully we can pick up some momentum from what happened (Sunday). NOTES: RHP Mark Appel, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 amateur draft, has been promoted to Double-A Corpus Christi from Class A Lancaster, where he was 2-5 with a 9.74 ERA in 12 starts. ... The Astros recalled RHP Paul Clemens from Triple-A Oklahoma City before the game. ... Brett Oberholtzer is scheduled to pitch for Houston on Monday, when the Astros open a three-game series with Oakland. ... The Marlins return home to start a three-game series against Washington with Nathan Eovaldi pitching. ' ' '