Clemens Stiffles BoSox

Roger Clemens brought Toronto a step closer to contention.

Clemens allowed three hits in eight innings to remain unbeaten since May 29 as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 4-3 Saturday for their ninth consecutive victory.

By winning the first three games of the four-game series, the Blue Jays pulled within six games of the Red Sox, the AL wild-card leader. Boston lost for the seventh time in 10 games.

"They're not going to go down without a fight," Clemens said. "We need to continue to push forward and make good things happen. There's still a long way to go."

Shawn Green, Carlos Delgado and Jose Canseco homered for the Blue Jays, and Tony Fernandez matched his career high with four hits.

"We can't afford to drop one game to Boston. We have to win tomorrow," Canseco said. "We got 20 games left and somehow we got to win 15 of those 20. Anything can happen."

Clemens (18-6), who lowered his league-leading ERA to 2.62, has won 13 consecutive decisions and is unbeaten in 18 starts. Coming off three shutouts in a row -- three-hitters against Seattle and Kansas City, and a two-hitter against Minnesota -- he extended his scoreless innings streak to a team-record 33 before giving up two runs in the fifth.

"Just another quality performance," Toronto catcher Darrin Fletcher said. "He could of very easily gone another nine innings and not give up any runs."

Clemens struck out 11 and walked three. It was his eighth double-digit strikeout game in 1998, the 90th of his career. He leads the AL with 227 strikeouts and is tied for the lea with 18 wins.

With his recent spurt, he has put himself in position to win an unprecedented fifth Cy Young Award.

"I'm not too worried about that right now. That's not my main concern," Clemens said. "I just want to continue to finish up strong and do the things I've always tried to do."

Troy O'Leary cut the deficit to 4-3 with his 23rd homer, a leadoff shot off Dan Plesac in the ninth. Paul Quantrill got two outs for his seventh save.

Toronto took a 2-0 lead in the first on Green's 31st homer and Delgado's 28th. Canseco's 39th homer in the second reached SkyDome's fifth deck in left.

"I'm happy the ball stayed fair because I thought I hooked it," Canseco said.

Boston got its fifth-inning runs on Darrin Lewis' RBI single and Clemens' wild pitch with Mike Benjamin on third.

"He was within a pitch of shutout. A base hit and wild pitch and there's two runs," Fletcher said.

Fletcher's run-scoring single gave Toronto a 4-2 lead in the eighth.

"I don't think guys are making plans for the playoffs," Fletcher said. "I think guys are thinking about playing good baseball, driving runs in, and having a good finish, and if you do that, you never know what could happen."

Bret Saberhagen (12-7) gave up three runs and eight hits in six innings.

"I put us in a hole early, and with Roger Clemens on the mound you can't afford to make mistakes," Saberhagen said. "We'll try to salvage the series tomorrow. We lost three, but if we win one, they only pick up two games."

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