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Five-run sixth powers Red Sox past Blue Jays

Jul 15, 2007 - 5:33 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- On a night when Daisuke Matsuzaka was not his sharpest, the offense of the Boston Red Sox more than picked up the slack.

Boston collected five hits during a five-run sixth to snap a tie and lift the Red Sox to a 9-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday.

Jason Varitek's two-run blast off Dustin McGowan (5-5) into the bleachers in deep right-center field snapped the 4-4 deadlock, and David Ortiz and Eric Hinske also homered as the Red Sox won for the second time in three tries against the Blue Jays this series.

Matsuzaka (11-6) was staked to leads of 3-0 and 4-1 but could not protect either one. The righthander threw 110 pitches over his six innings, laboring through the middle frames as his pitch count grew.

The Red Sox starter felt out of rhythm all night, resorting to pitching from the stretch with no one on base in the middle innings to regain his balance over the pitching rubber.

"It is something that I have done since I played in Japan," Matsuzaka said through an interpreter. "It is one of the ways that I feel I can improve my balance during a game. I was hoping to see improvement after that point, but I didn't see any today."

He finished having allowed nine hits and four runs while issuing two walks and striking out a pair.

"I think I was disappointed from beginning to end today," Matsuzaka said. "Whenever I am pitching poorly, I try to make adjustments during the game. But no matter what I tried today, I felt like I couldn't adjust very well."

With two outs in the first, Ortiz ended a 34-game homer drought at Fenway Park with a line drive into the Blue Jays' bullpen in right. It was his first blast at home since April 21 against the New York Yankees.

"That was big for us," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "I think David is fine. The way he has swung it the last few games, he is driving the ball and staying through it. Even when he is hitting those line drives through the infielders or at a second baseman, those are good swings."

The homer was one of three surrendered by McGowan, who gave up eight hits and six runs while walking two and striking out four.

"That's a tough situation," McGowan said. "You know in the back of your mind it's 3-0 and there's a good possibility he might swing. Then again, you don't want to four-pitch walk him right there in the first inning. It was one of those situations where you had to throw it and throw a strike. He hit it."

Julio Lugo continued to show signs of ending his prolonged slump, collecting three hits in as many at-bats and scoring twice. His infield single in the fourth was his 1,000th career hit.

"Two thousand to go to get to 3,000 and the Hall of Fame," Lugo joked. "I feel more comfortable at the plate now and I'm starting to get some hits."

Troy Glaus and Aaron Hill each homered off Matsuzaka, with Hill's drive landing in the third row of seats above the "Green Monster" and tying the game at 4-4 in the sixth. Glaus and Hill each went 3-for-4 to pace the offense.

Manny Delcarmen struck out a career-high four over two scoreless innings of relief and Hideki Okajima worked the ninth to run his most recent string of scoreless appearances to 15 games.

"We had some guys on early, but we battled back and tied it in the sixth there," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "Then they came back, boom, they exploded on us. That's why that sixth inning is such a big inning. You've got to bridge the gap to your late-inning guys."

The All-Star from Japan, who had a 19-appearance scoreless streak from April 6-May 20, has yielded just four earned runs in 45 1/3 innings this season.

Varitek's homer off McGowan, the final pitch thrown by the Blue Jays' starter, landed in the bleachers beyond Boston's bullpen and struck a boy in the face. The Red Sox retrieved the ball, and Varitek signed it afterward and gave it back to the fan.