• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Ortiz, Red Sox slam Weaver, Angels

Aug 19, 2007 - 5:04 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- Through the first four innings, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim starter Jered Weaver was outstanding. But David Ortiz and the Boston Red Sox jumped all over him in the decisive fifth.

Ortiz blasted a majestic, go-ahead grand slam to cap a six-run fifth as the Red Sox posted a 10-5 victory over the Angels in the third contest of a four-game set Saturday night at Fenway Park.

The grand slam, the seventh of Ortiz's career, turned a three-run deficit into a 6-5 lead.

"That was well-struck, I agree," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "The timing wasn't bad, either.

Manny Ramirez and Julio Lugo each drove in two runs for Boston (74-49), which remained five games ahead of the hard-charging New York Yankees (69-54) in the American League East Division. The Yankees topped the Detroit Tigers, 5-2, earlier Saturday.

The Red Sox and Yankees will face off in an increasingly important three-game series August 28-30 at Yankee Stadium.

After allowing just two hits through the first four frames, Weaver (8-6) imploded in the fifth, yielding a single by Eric Hinske and Coco Crisp's double to start the inning.

He then hit Alex Cora to load the bases, setting up a two-run single by Lugo that drew Boston within 5-2. After a base hit by Kevin Youkilis again loaded the bases, Ortiz launched Weaver's poorly located fastball well into the right field seats to give the Red Sox their first lead of the game.

"He was going right through us, throwing strike one with a lot of off-speed (stuff) and not afraid to use his fastball in, expanding the plate," Francona said of Weaver. "We get some runners on, (Cora) gets hit with the 0-2 pitch, all of sudden we've got the bases loaded.

"We did some real good things to get to David, and then David, in that one swing, changed the whole complexion of the game."

Ortiz, who has been struggling all season with nagging injuries, has been taking some healthy cuts in recent games. On Saturday, he ripped Boston's fifth grand slam this season.

"I kind of put it in my mind, 'OK, he's going to try to throw a pitch for a strike to get ahead,'" Ortiz said of the first-pitch fastball. "'And I'm going to try to hit it far.' I don't measure my homers, but that was a pretty good one."

"I threw a fastball in to him on the first pitch for the third at-bat in a row, and I shouldn't have done it," Weaver said.

After hitting the ball, Ortiz took some time to admire one of his biggest homers of the season with a slow trot to first, which bothered Weaver.

"I'll remember it the next time we play them, that's for sure," Weaver said. "I'm not going to say anything's going to happen, but it's definitely in the back of your mind. Absolutely, (I was upset)."

Red Sox starter Curt Schilling (7-5) was the beneficiary of the huge hit, earning the victory despite giving up two homers of his own.

"There was no doubt," Schilling said. "You knew as soon as you heard it."

"You know David," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "If you can't get a ball in exactly the spot that you're looking (inside), he's going to (put) a good swing on it, and that's what happened."

Weaver then struck out Ramirez but allowed a single by J.D. Drew - the 1,000th hit of his career - knocking the hurler from the game. The righthander allowed six runs and eight hits while striking out five and walking one in 4 1/3 innings.

"It certainly happened quickly," Scioscia said. "Jered pitched out of a couple of jams and really made some nice pitches, and it just seemed that after that broken bat, the leadoff hit by Hinske, everything was up, everything was up over the (middle) part of the plate.

"He just couldn't put guys away, had trouble making pitches in. It's not a forgiving lineup."

Ortiz's heroics overcame an inconsistent performance by Schilling, who yielded five runs and eight hits while striking out three without a walk in six frames.

Mike Timlin tossed a scoreless seventh, retiring Anaheim slugger Vladimir Guerrero on a deep fly ball just a few feet in front of the center field wall to end the inning. All-Star Hideki Okajima worked the eighth and closer Jonathan Papelbon closed it out in the ninth in a non-save situation.

Guerrero smacked his 19th homer of the season and Figgins belted his third for the Angels (71-51), who hold a two-game lead over the Seattle Mariners (68-52) in the AL West.

Garret Anderson got the Angels on the board, grounding into a forceout that scored Orlando Cabrera in the first.

One inning later, Casey Kotchman hit a leadoff double and, after Maicer Izturis flied out and Jeff Mathis struck out, Reggie Willits ripped an RBI single to make it 2-0.

Figgins capped the scoring in the inning with his two-run blast just inside the right field foul pole.

Guerrero belted his solo blast in the fifth, lunging at an offering from Schilling but still managing to lift the pitch over the "Green Monster" in left field to extend the advantage to 5-0.

"The only other guy that has ever done that to me is (Alfonso) Soriano in the (2001) World Series," Schilling said. "I wanted to bounce it, so it wasn't a good pitch in that sense."

After the Red Sox took the lead with their stellar fifth, they put the game out of reach with a four-run eighth. Ramirez had a two-run double, Jason Varitek delivered an RBI single and Drew scored on a wild pitch to provide the final margin.