Clay Buchholz pitched eight strong innings for his 17th win of the season as the Boston Red Sox cruised past the Chicago White Sox 6-1 Monday night.

The win, coupled with the New York Yankees’ loss at Toronto, kept Boston mathematically alive in the AL wild-card standings. Boston trails New York by 5 1/2 games with six games to play.

Buchholz (17-7) allowed five hits and a run while fanning five. He lowered his ERA to 2.33, second in the American League.

Adrian Beltre had four hits and two RBIs for Boston, which jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a two-run double by David Ortiz in the first inning. Both Ortiz and Beltre reached 100 RBIs for the season in the contest.

Marco Scutaro and Victor Martinez both had three of Boston’s 16 hits.

Mark Buehrle (12-13) took the loss. He allowed 11 hits and four runs in six innings.