BOSTON — Another full house. A first-place opponent. An outstanding pitchers’ duel.

Another Yankees-Red Sox late-season game? Not quite.

This time Boston was facing the Tampa Bay Rays, leaders in the AL East — for now.

Jon Lester (13-4) outpitched Edwin Jackson (11-10) Monday night when the Red Sox won 3-0 to move a half-game behind the Rays. Boston could overtake Tampa Bay by the time tonight’s second game of the three-game series is over.

“We have outstanding intensity that’s pretty much unmatched when we play the Yankees,” Boston’s Coco Crisp said, “but now you throw Tampa in the mix with how well they’ve been playing, it’s very similar to the type of intensity that we would share with the Yankees.”

But this season the Yankees are in fourth place with very little chance of reaching the playoffs. It’s the Rays, who finished last in nine of their other 10 seasons, who are headed toward postseason play even though their division lead had dwindled from 51⁄2 games in eight days.

Scott Kazmir (11-6) will try to keep Tampa Bay on top against Daisuke Matsuzaka (16-2). To do that, the Rays will have to break a slump that led to their two-game scoreless streak.

“Sometimes it happens and whenever it happens this time of year it really becomes more pronounced. You see it more glaringly,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

After losing to Toronto 1-0 on Sunday, the Rays ran into a strong performance by Lester (13-4). The lefty pitched into the eighth inning, Jason Bay homered in a three-run first and the Red Sox improved to 6-1 in their last seven games.

The Rays are 1-6 in that span and in the midst of a four-game losing streak.

Boston, though, is taking them seriously.

“Obviously, they’re still in first place and everybody knows why,” said Crisp, who went 3-for-3 and is 21-for-37 during his 10-game hitting streak.

Playing before their 456th straight regular-season home sellout crowd, a new major league record, the Red Sox improved to 7-0 at Fenway Park against the Rays. But they’re 0-6 at Tampa Bay, where the teams open a three-game series next Monday.

Rocco Baldelli, who struck out on all four at-bats for the Rays, doesn’t think the team feels pressure at Fenway.

“I don’t think anything like that enters into things,” he said. “They’re good here and we’re good at our place.”

Jackson pitched well for most of his seven innings, but was hurt in the first when the Red Sox scored all three runs.

Leadoff hitter Mark Kotsay walked and scored on a one-out double by David Ortiz. Ortiz scored on a single by Kevin Youkilis, who was thrown out in a rundown. Bay then hit his 28th homer of the year and his sixth since being traded by Pittsburgh on July 31.

“They’re battling some injuries over there and right now we have to kind of use that to our advantage and at least win the series, if not sweep,” Bay said.

Maddon said third baseman Evan Longoria might play this week after a fractured right wrist put him on the disabled list before he was activated Saturday.

But center fielder B.J. Upton left Monday’s game in the bottom of the fifth with a strained left thigh muscle and Maddon said he probably would miss Tuesday’s game.

“We’re playing well right now,” Maddon said. “We’re just not hitting.”

Lester matched his season high with nine strikeouts, accomplished in his no-hitter against Kansas City on May 19. He allowed six hits and three walks in 7 2-3 innings. Jonathan Papelbon pitched 1 1-3 innings for his 36th save in 40 opportunities.

“It was a good atmosphere tonight in the ballpark,” Lester said. “It almost felt like we were in the playoffs.”

Barring a major collapse, both the Rays and Red Sox should be there in three weeks. Which team will win the AL East and which will win the wild-card spot remains to be determined.

“Whether we’ve closed the gap or not, just the way we’ve been playing, trying to distance ourselves in the wild card (race) and still ultimately win the East” is important, Bay said. “Once you get that ball rolling, you get that momentum, it’s a little bit easier to keep it rolling.”

Angels 12, Yankees 1

At Anaheim, Calif., Ivan Rodriguez and Torii Hunter got into a bench-clearing fight in the sixth inning, when Los Angeles scored six runs on the way to a win that reduced its magic number to two for clinching the AL West.

Brandon Wood hit two homers, and Vladimir Guerrero and Sean Rodriguez also connected for the Angels, who are on track to wrap up their fourth division crown in five seasons by the earliest date in franchise history. They can do it Tuesday night with another win over the Yankees and a Texas loss at Seattle.

Tigers 14, Athletics 8

At Detroit, Gary Sheffield’s second home run of the night — a grand slam — was the 250,000th homer in major league history and it helped Detroit beat Oakland.

Sheffield drove in five runs, including his 13th career slam. Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera and Mike Hessman also went deep for the Tigers, who won their third straight.

Oakland has lost five of seven.

Orioles 14, Indians 3

At Baltimore, Aubrey Huff hit a grand slam to cap a seven-run sixth inning and the Orioles ended an eight-game losing streak by defeating Cleveland.

Luke Scott, Adam Jones and Ramon Hernandez also homered for the Orioles, who had lost 13 of 14. Jones ended an 0-for-16 skid with three hits and four RBIs.