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Orioles' Bedard, bullpen hold down Red Sox

Aug 1, 2007 - 4:38 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- Despite facing their divisional nemesis, Erik Bedard and the Baltimore Orioles continued to roll.

Bedard pitched six superb innings and Brian Roberts homered and drove in two runs as the Orioles posted a 5-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday.

Kevin Millar hit a two-run single and Ramon Hernandez added an RBI double for Baltimore (50-55), which has won seven of eight to move to within five games of the .500 mark. The last time Baltimore was five games under .500 was on June 10 (29-34).

It was also just the fifth win in the last 29 games for the Orioles vs. the American East-leading Red Sox. Baltimore is 2-4 vs. Boston this season.

Despite fighting a bad cold, Bedard (11-4) also stayed hot, winning his seventh consecutive decision. The lefthander yielded two runs, two hits and five walks to even his career record to 4-4 vs. Boston. Over his last eight starts, Bedard, who struck six, is 7-0 with a 1.71 ERA.

"He pitched backwards tonight," said Coco Crisp, who was among the many Red Sox batters unable to get a hit off Baltimore's ace. "He had very good command of his off-speed pitches which allowed him to keep us off-balance. There were a lot of first-pitches curveballs and changeups, and then he mixed in that plus fastball."

Though the Red Sox threatened, Bedard had every answer.

"I just relied on my curveball and changeup," Bedard said. "I had a good changeup tonight and I got some key outs with it."

Bedard was dominant despite dealing with dehydration in the fourth inning.

"He had to get some fluids in him," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "I think it was the humidity that got to him."

Rob Bell came on in the seventh inning and set the Red Sox down in order before surrendering a leadoff homer to David Ortiz in the eighth to cut the Orioles' lead to 5-3. It was the second homer of the game for Ortiz and his 18th of the season.

Ortiz had not homered since July 16 and finished with 11 extra-base hits in July.

"It's exciting when (David) starts leaving the ballpark," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said.

After Chad Bradford replaced Bell and retired the next three batters, he allowed a one-out single to Coco Crisp in the ninth before Trembley replaced him with Jamie Walker.

Walker walked Eric Hinske to put runners on first and second before getting the last two batters to ground out to end the game. It was Walker's fourth save in five opportunities.

The Orioles gave Bedard an early lead when Brian Roberts hit the first pitch of the game from Josh Beckett into the first row of seats near the right field line to make it 1-0.

In the third, Roberts touched Beckett again for an RBI double before Millar added a two-run single later in the frame for a 4-0 lead. He led an Orioles attack that was very aggressive against Beckett.

"You don't want to be hitting with two strikes all night," Roberts said. "But you also need to be patient because you don't want them to have just 50 pitches in the seventh every night, either. It worked out for us tonight but sometimes it might not work at all."

However, the Red Sox responded in their next at-bat when Dustin Pedroia drew a two-out walk, followed by Ortiz hitting Bedard's first offering into the right field seats to cut the lead in half.

Baltimore added a run in the sixth when Hernandez drilled a run-scoring double off the Green Monster in left to make it 5-2.

Beckett (13-5) allowed five runs, nine hits and two walks in eight innings. The big righthander, who started the season 9-0, has dropped four of his last six decisions. It was also his first loss in four career starts vs. the Orioles.

While the Red Sox garnered most of the headlines before the game for their acquisition of Eric Gagne in exchange for Kason Gabbard and two minor leaguers, the Orioles had news of their own. They removed the interim tag from Trembley's title.

"It's a heck of an opportunity," said an obviously pleased Trembley after the game. "I have a lot of respect for the game and I have a lot of respect for the people that are given this opportunity. It's a total team thing and it's not about Dave Trembley.

"It's about the Baltimore Orioles trying to do something to bring back a little respect (to the organization)."