CHICAGO (AP) _ They'd need a miracle or one of baseball's greatest collapses to get into the playoffs. But the Boston Red Sox, somehow, are still in the running with four games left.

They were eliminated from the AL wild card Wednesday evening when Oakland beat Anaheim.

Then they responded with a 2-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox _ who started a pitcher with a screw in his arm _ and moved within 4 1/2 games of the slumping Yankees in the AL East.

``We're still alive,'' Red Sox manager Jimy Williams said.

``We're on life support,'' reliever Derek Lowe said after getting his 40th save. ``But who knows? The Yankees lose four, we win four. We've still got a shot.''

New York has five games left and a magic number of one over the Red Sox and Blue Jays.

``I didn't watch the scoreboard opening day and I'm not changing now,'' Williams said.

The White Sox, meanwhile, are gearing for the playoffs and gave two pitchers with arm problems a tryout of sorts to see if they can be ready to rejoin the rotation.

Cal Eldred, with a five-inch screw in his arm, didn't look too rusty after more than two months away from a major league mound.

``I hope they didn't put a rusty screw in there. They told me it wasn't,'' Eldred said, showing a sense of humor after his surprising return.

Eldred pitches 3 1-3 effective innings and James Baldwin, bothered by shoulder tendinitis, added four solid innings of relief.

Now they'll see how their arms respond the next two days and then pitch again Sunday in the season finale against Kansas City.

``We basically had written them off. This is a lift,'' White Sox manager Jerry Manuel said.

``It doesn't seem as unbelievable to me now as it did 20 days ago,'' Eldred said.

Eldred had the stainless steel screw surgically implanted Sept. 7 to stabilize a stress fracture in his elbow. He hadn't pitched for the White Sox since July 14.

A survivor of elbow ligament replacement surgery in 1995, Eldred helped the White Sox jump out quickly this season by winning 10 games, including eight straight decisions before he was hurt.

Eldred was told if he didn't have the surgery, the stress fracture would return next year _ he's had it three straight seasons _ or he could retire.

``As far as fear something would go wrong, I'm not supposed to be doing what I'm doing anyhow, so if something hurts, I just have to stop and say what we did is for next year,'' Eldred said.

``What I am doing now is, as far as I'm concerned, is to cheat the scale and get a little extra,'' he added.

``It's awesome. It just shows what a gamer he is,'' Boston's Brian Daubach said of Eldred. ``I'm sure not being in the playoffs before has a lot to do with it.''

Eldred threw 49 pitches, reaching 94 mph in velocity and giving up two hits and a run on Nomar Garciaparra's 21st homer.

Baldwin (14-6) gave up an unearned, go-ahead run in the fifth and four hits.

``I was pretty pumped up for Cal. To have a screw in your elbow, that's impressive,'' Baldwin said.

``To go out there and see him come back from surgery and pitch the way he did with the velocity means you want to go out there and do the same.''

Paxton Crawford (2-1) allowed just four hits and a run in six innings to pick up the victory for the Red Sox.

Notes: Red Sox CF Carl Everett is probably done for the season after hurting a tendon near his left ankle Tuesday night. A Red Sox spokesman said Everett may have an MRI. ... Manuel is growing a beard until the end of the season. ``That's a way of getting people to leave me alone. Maybe they'll say, `Hey he looks pretty mean with that beard,''' Manuel joked. ... Red Sox IF Manny Alexander went back to Boston for tests after hurting his right knee while stretching Tuesday. ... The White Sox, who've wrapped up home field for the playoffs, have lost four straight for the first time since early July.