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Red Sox hit 6 HRs to beat Orioles

Jul 8, 2011 - 3:59 AM Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Dustin Pedroia belted a three-run homer, one of six long balls jolted by the Red Sox in a 10-4 rout of the Baltimore Orioles.

David Ortiz, Josh Reddick and Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit consecutive homers off Pedro Viola in the seventh inning. Adrian Gonzalez and Jacoby Ellsbury also went deep for Boston in the opener of this four-game series.

Andrew Miller (3-0), who has filled in for an injured Clay Buchholz, allowed six hits, four walks and three runs over five innings and remained unbeaten in four starts for the Red Sox this season.

"Sometimes there's some moving parts he's still working on," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "Saying that, he limited the damage and controlled the game, which is good. But I think there's more in there and I think he thinks so too."

The Red Sox, winners in seven of their last eight, moved a half-game ahead of the Yankees, into first place in the AL East.

The Orioles, who suffered their ninth defeat in 10 games, were just outscored 30-11 in a three-game sweep at Texas.

Jake Arrieta (9-6) was charged with six hits and five runs -- four earned -- over 4 1/3 innings to take the loss.

The Red Sox caught a break and went ahead for good in the fourth inning. Reddick reached first on Arrieta's error on a poor umpiring call at first base. Reddick's bouncer was knocked down by Derrek Lee, whose flip to first appeared in time to get the out. Replays showed Arrieta's heel touched the bag, but first base umpire Mike Estabrook signaled safe. Saltalamacchia singled and J.D. Drew's groundout to first made it a 4-3 game.

Gonzalez, who sat out Wednesday's game due to a stiff neck, homered to center field with one out in the fifth, and Ellsbury smacked a high drive just inside the right field pole the following inning to provide a 7-3 margin.

"It's a very good offense and we all talked about it before the season started," Gonzalez said. "We're capable of putting up a lot of runs. We saw the ball good today."

Viola came on in relief of Jason Berken with one out in the seventh, but was greeted with three consecutive long balls. First it was Ortiz who hit a ball to center, then Reddick to right, and finally Saltalamacchia to left-center.

"Amazing. You get behind a guy like David, who had a great at-bat and goes dead center against a lefty. That's impressive," Reddick said. "For me, to come out and have a good at-bat for myself is really big with my struggles lately. Then, Salty hits an 0-2 fastball, that's always a good feat to accomplish right there. It feels good to hit one up here and be part of that."

Vladimir Guerrero scored on Lee's groundout in the eighth.

Miller had a rough start, giving up singles to J.J. Hardy, Nick Markakis and Adam Jones to start the game. Jones' hit bounced off the glove of Miller to account for the first run. Guerrero's double-play grounder plated Markakis.

Pedroia gave the Red Sox the lead with one swing of the bat in the third. Marco Scutaro walked on four pitches and Ellsbury drew another walk. Pedroia then homered out of the stadium, over the Green Monster.

"You put two guys on for free and then a good high-ball hitter in Pedroia hits a ball out. That could have easily been avoided," Arrieta said. "It could have been a solo shot, but it did more damage than it should have."

Hardy's sacrifice fly plate Mark Reynolds in the fourth to tie the score.

Game Notes

The Red Sox are 20-5 against the O's in their last 25 meetings at Fenway Park...Gonzalez, who leads the AL with 124 hits, is two hits away from recording the most hits ever for a Red Sox batter before the All-Star break since 1946. Only Wade Boggs (125 in 1987), Nomar Garciaparra (125 in 2003) have recorded more hits before the break in that time...In seven games in July, the Orioles are batting .111 (5-45) with runners in scoring position.