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Beckett, Red Sox cruise past White Sox

Aug 25, 2007 - 12:24 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Josh Beckett needed only a little support from his teammates to continue to be the best in the majors.

Beckett pitched 5 2/3 effective innings to get the Boston Red Sox off to a good start in the first game of a day-night doubleheader with an 11-3 triumph over the Chicago White Sox on Friday.

Jason Varitek homered and drove in four runs and Mike Lowell and Bobby Kielty each added two RBI for Boston, which improved to 3-1 on its current season-high 10-game road trip.

The Red Sox, who have won four straight vs. the White Sox this season, own the best winning percentage (.602, 77-51) in the major leagues.

Boston's record coincides with Beckett (16-5), who has the most wins of any hurler in the league.

"(Beckett's) stuff was good today," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "He made some mistakes, but I thought his stuff was real good."

The righthander, who yielded three runs, seven hits and three walks while striking out four, also improved to 9-1 in 10 road starts.

"It's important at this time of year to pitch well," Varitek said. "(Beckett) helped keep (the White Sox) in check."

Beckett is 3-0 in four career outings against the White Sox.

Javier Lopez retired the only batter he faced in the sixth before Hideki Okajima worked a scoreless seventh. Mike Timlin tossed the final two frames to seal the win.

Beckett started off shaky before settling down.

"The guys picked me up today," Beckett said. "I didn't have great stuff, I had good stuff. They played great defense again today and scored a bunch of runs."

"(Beckett) has matured and composed himself, especially when things don't go his way early on, and it's helping him go deeper in games," Lowell said. "He really didn't have command of his curveball, but he was able to grind it out. You're not going to have your best stuff every day, but he did a pretty good job for what he had."

With two outs in the bottom of the first, a double and two walks loaded the bases before Beckett walked Jermaine Dye on four pitches to force in a run and give Chicago a 1-0 lead.

Two innings later, the Red Sox tied it when Alex Cora hit a two-out double and came home on a single up the middle by Julio Lugo.

Boston broke open the game a frame later.

With runners on the corners and one out in the top of the fourth, Lowell hit a base hit to center field off White Sox starter Jon Garland to score Coco Crisp, giving the Red Sox the lead.

After a fielding error by rookie second baseman Danny Richar loaded the bases, Varitek drilled a two-run single to left to make it 4-1. Eric Hinske followed with a run-scoring base hit up the middle to increase the lead to four.

Garland (8-10) allowed six runs - five earned - nine hits and a walk in seven-plus innings in suffering his third loss in as many outings. The 6-6 righthander has not won in his last five starts.

"(Garland) really just had one bad inning in the fourth, when they scored four runs," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I think he threw a bit better today. He was more aggressive in the strike zone, and I think he was better than his previous start."

Beckett was reached for a two-run homer by rookie Josh Fields in the fifth before surrendering two-out base hits to Richar and Andy Gonzalez in the sixth. Francona replaced Beckett with Lopez, who ended the threat by getting rookie Jerry Owens to fly out to left.

The 16th homer by Fields leads all American League rookies.

The Red Sox added two runs in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Kielty, who was hitting for J.D. Drew, and a run-scoring single by Kevin Youkilis. They tacked on four more in the ninth on Lowell's RBI double, another sacrifice fly by Kielty and a two-run shot by Varitek off former Boston reliever Mike Myers.

Owens and Darin Erstad each had two hits for the White Sox, who have lost 10 of their last 12 games.