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Ortiz, Red Sox outslug Brewers

May 18, 2008 - 10:48 PM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) - The Boston Red Sox batters picked up the slack for Josh Beckett on Sunday at Fenway Park.

David Ortiz homered twice and drove in four runs and Dustin Pedroia homered and scored three times as the Red Sox completed an interleague series sweep by beating the Milwaukee Brewers, 11-7.

"I thought today was the best he (Ortiz) has swung the bat," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "He had balance, some aggression without trying to generate it. That was as good as I've seen him."

Kevin Youkilis also homered and drove in three for the Red Sox, who combined with the Brewers to club eight homers in the contest.

Beckett (5-3) was rocked for four homers over seven innings but still earned the victory. He struck out nine and scattered six hits, giving up a season-high six runs.

"The guys swung the bats well today," Beckett said. "I just try to focus on positive things. I made some good pitches, made some poor pitches. At the end of the day, we won and that's what we're trying to do."

Three of the four homers allowed by Beckett came off his curveball.

"I think anytime somebody hits a home run on a breaking ball, it's probably the pitcher's fault - because if it's down, it's a very hard pitch to lift," Beckett said.

"A few balls wandered over the middle of the plate, especially early on with the first couple of hitters," Francona added. "He had a lineout then a line drive hit but he only walked one, missed a lot of bats. He left some pitches over the plate to good hitters."

For the third time this season, Ryan Braun had two homers to lead the Brewers, who dropped their fifth straight.

"Braun's a phenomenal hitter and he hit him hard," Francona said. "The good thing was he (Beckett) didn't put a lot of people on base and we scored."

"We did a nice job of swinging the bats off Beckett," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "We just didn't pitch good today."

Milwaukee jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first on Braun's first homer, a two-run shot over the "Green Monster" but Boston responded with a run in the first and two more in the third to take their first lead of the day.

Pedroia and Ortiz hit back-to-back homers off Brewers starter Carlos Villanueva (2-5) in the third inning.

"He just got the ball up," Yost said of his starter. "You can't get the ball up to a good-hitting club like this. You have to stay down with your fastball and change speeds. His fastball was up."

Ortiz's second homer, a long two-run drive into the bleachers above the Brewers bullpen, put Boston up, 8-4, in the fifth.

"That's why they're the Red Sox," Villanueva said. "They're a very good offensive team. You can't be making mistakes to them. They punish mistakes. I made a couple of mistakes and they took advantage."

Milwaukee closed to 8-6 on back-to-back homers from Braun and Prince Fielder in the sixth but the Red Sox added insurance on Youkilis' two-run homer in the seventh.

Boston's Manny Ramirez went 1-for-5 and remains two homers shy of 500 for his career.

The Brewers committed one error Sunday and six errors in the three losses in Boston. The loss dropped Milwaukee into sole possession of last place in the National League Central, a game behind Cincinnati.

"That's why you struggle," Yost said. "At this level, you have to be consistent. For the most part, you need to be consistent at all three levels every day if you're going to be successful.

"I'm really happy with the way we swung the bats today against one of the best pitchers in the American League. But against one of the best lineups in the American League, we just didn't pitch good."