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Ortiz backs bullpen as Red Sox outlast Yankees

Apr 22, 2007 - 6:25 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- David Ortiz did a lot of damage in the batter's box.

Jonathan Papelbon made sure Alex Rodriguez stayed on deck. Ortiz homered and drove in four runs and Papelbon capped a perfect 2 1/3 innings by the the bullpen as the Boston Red Sox posted a 7-5 victory over the New York Yankees.

Kevin Youkilis had two hits and an RBI for the Red Sox, who relied on stellar relief pitching one day after exposing the Yankees' bullpen in a dramatic 7-6 victory. Legendary New York closer Mariano Rivera helped blow a four-run lead in the eighth inning in that contest.

Ortiz tied the game, 2-2, in the second inning with a two-run double and smacked a two-run blast off Yankees starter Jeff Karstens in the fourth to give the Red Sox a 7-4 lead.

"I'm just trying to get good pitches to hit," Ortiz said. "The pitchers, they've just been trying to get you out with a lot of different stuff. But you've gotta be patient. That's how it is every year.

"It works both ways. Sometimes, you've got to hit very well. It's not something we're trying. It just happened. We're going to try to do the same thing for everybody."

Youkilis worked a two-out walk on a full count against Karstens just prior to the Ortiz homer.

"I think (the game) took a pretty good turn with the Youkilis walk before Ortiz's home run," Yankee manager Joe Torre said. "And that, I thought, was the difference and that's where their lineup showed up more than anything."

But it was Boston's bullpen that was the real story, allowing no hits and just one walk in relief of shaky Red Sox starter Josh Beckett (4-0).

"I thought I was throwing the ball well and they got a couple of well-placed hits in the first inning, cost me a couple of runs," said Beckett, who allowed four runs and five hits in the first two innings. "But a win is a win and as much as you would like to shut every team out, it's probably not going to happen.

"I felt good today and we got a win."

The righthander yielded five runs - four earned - and nine hits in 6 2/3 frames while walking two and striking out seven.

"You never want to have somebody else clean up your mess for you," Beckett said. "They are doing an unbelievable job." "Early on, it wasn't really easy for him," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said of Beckett's first two innings. "But I didn't think he had bad stuff, it was just a pretty good lineup."

After the second inning, the Yankees were held scoreless until the seventh.

"It was a heavyweight fight, the first couple of innings, Torre said. "Once Beckett got a lead, he settled in."

Hideki Okajima, who picked up his first career save on Friday night, worked out of another tough jam on Saturday, striking out potential go-ahead run Jason Giambi to end the seventh.

Okajima and Mike Timlin combined for a perfect eighth. Papelbon worked around a one-out walk to Melky Cabrera, striking out Derek Jeter and getting Bobby Abreu to fly out to end the game - leaving the red-hot Rodriguez on deck.

The two-time American League MVP continued his torrid April with two more hits and an RBI on Saturday. He leads the major leagues with 12 homers and 31 RBI, including five blasts in his last four contests.

Karstens (0-1) yielded seven runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out one.

"It seemed like every mistake I made, they hit it, it felt like, Karstens said. "It was not good. I wasn't as jittery as I thought I was going to be but I made mistakes and Big Papi made me pay the most."