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Beckett helps Red Sox recover from stunning loss

Sep 16, 2007 - 2:26 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- In the battle of the major league's only 18-game winners, Josh Beckett clearly outclassed Chien-Ming Wang.

Beckett tossed seven impressive innings and David Ortiz and Jacoby Ellsbury combined for five hits and five RBI as the Boston Red Sox rebounded from a disheartening loss to roll past the New York Yankees, 10-1, on Saturday.

Mike Lowell drove in two runs and Eric Hinske homered for Boston (90-59), which extended its lead over second-place New York (84-64) in the American League East Division to 5 1/2 games.

"We're trying to play good baseball and let everything else kind of work itself out," Beckett said. "We have been able to do tha pretty consistently throughout the whole year, and tonight was no different."

After squandering a five-run, eighth-inning lead on Friday, the Red Sox scored 10 unanswered runs in this one to erase an early 1-0 deficit. Lowell began the outburst with an RBI single in the first inning and J.D. Drew put Boston ahead for good with a run-scoring base hit in the fifth.

Ellsbury, who entered the game as a pinch runner for Kevin Youkilis in the fifth, plated a run with a single in the sixth, giving the Red Sox a 3-1 advantage. Ortiz followed with a two-run double, which ended the afternoon for Wang.

Scoring on Ortiz's double was Ellsbury, who slid past Jorge Posada and touched the plate with his hand after New York's catcher failed to apply a tag.

"Fortunately, I did not barrel into him and slid," Ellsbury said. "I don't know what he was thinking, but he didn't get the tag on me and we got the run in."

Earlier in the inning, Posada was run over by Hinske but held on to the ball, preventing the run from scoring.

"I realized I was going to be out and my only play was to try to run him over," said Hinske, who was attempting to score from third on a grounder by Dustin Pedroia. "I hit him pretty good and he held on to the ball. I ended up being out, but I think it pumped the team up a little bit."

The single by Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 13 games, the longest stretch by a Red Sox rookie outfielder since Jim Rice had a 13-game run from July 6-20, 1975.

"He's been a catalyst so often for us, coming up in big situations, using his legs, his bat, his defense and has given us a huge lift when we needed it," Boston manager Terry Francona said of Ellsbury.

Boston put away the game with a four-run seventh, which was highlighted by Ellsbury's two-run single. Hinske capped the scoring with a solo blast in the eighth, his sixth homer of the season.

The offensive support was more than enough for Beckett (19-6), who continued his bid for the AL Cy Young Award by yielding just one run and three hits. The righthander, who has won six of his last seven decisions, walked two and struck out seven.

"I thought Beckett did exactly what we have kind of come to expect and also needed," Francona said. "He pitched like an ace of a staff today against the best lineup in baseball. He went out there and did exactly what we needed."

"He was able to utilize his pitches, keep the ball down when he wanted to, elevate when he wanted to," Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek said. "Use his changeup, use his curveball and use both sides of the plate, and that is the key to executing your pitches."

Beckett, who improved to 9-1 following a loss by Boston this season, has won 50 games over the last three campaigns. He is tied with Minnesota's Johan Santana for the most in the majors during that span.

"(I) just do what I always do, just go out there and try to execute pitches," Beckett said of his record after team losses. "They have a good team and they showed why they've won so many games since the All-Star break last night."

Wang (18-7) was tagged for five runs, nine hits and three walks in 5 2/3 frames, his shortest outing since lasting only 2 2/3 innings against Toronto on August 8. The Taiwanese righthander - who recorded three strikeouts - lost for the first time since the brief outing vs. the Blue Jays, halting a five-game winning streak.

"Sometimes I lost control and got behind in the count and gave up hits," Wang said.

"It looked at times like he had the good downer, and other times, it looked a little flat," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "He was just inconsistent today, whether it was his release point or whatever it was. He just obviously wasn't as good as he has been lately."

Derek Jeter went 2-for-4 with a solo homer for the Yankees, whose lead over the Detroit Tigers (81-67) in the AL wild card race slipped to three games. The Tigers are visiting the Minnesota Twins.

Jeter's first-inning blast was the 193rd of his career, moving him past Tino Martinez for 13th place on the Yankees' all-time list.