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Lowell helps Red Sox outslug Blue Jays

Sep 4, 2007 - 4:38 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- Mike Lowell had three hits and four RBI to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 13-10 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.

The 33-year-old Lowell, who extended his hitting streak to a career-high 16 games, has a .369 career batting average against the Blue Jays, the highest of any player with at least 150 plate appearances.

"We talked the other day that with Manny (Ramirez) out of the lineup, that if somebody steps up or if other people wanna step up, it doesn't hurt as much. I mean Lowell has been good all year," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "He is a good hitter that is having a great year - and he is seeing that ball really well right now, that is for sure."

With the victory, the Red Sox (83-55) increased their lead in the American League East division to seven games over the New York Yankees (76-62).

Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka (14-11) was spotted a 10-1 lead early in the game, but struggled mightily, allowing seven runs on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings. The righthander struck out three and walked one as the Blue Jays rallied for eight runs in the sixth.

"Certainly, there were a few bad breaks in a row," Matsuzaka said through an interpreter. "I felt that I could pitch well enough to cover those bad breaks, but since I wasn't able to, that led to that big inning in the sixth."

"He had some misfortune in the inning and then they hit some balls well, he threw the ball much better than the results," catcher Jason Varitek said.

Troy Glaus highlighted the sixth-inning rally with a three-run homer, his 19th home run of the season. Frank Thomas and Adam Lind each added RBI singles before Matt Stairs hit a two-run double off reliever Jose Lopez.

All-Star Alex Rios capped the scoring with an RBI groundout off Manny Delcarmen as the inning ended with rookie Jacoby Ellsbury making a diving catch off Frank Thomas with the tying run at third base that kept the Red Sox clinging to a 10-9 lead.

"We battled back, we left it out there on the field," Orioles manager John Gibbons said. "We've been doing it all year, we scored our bunch, but it didn't happen (to result in a win)."

Boston responded by scoring three runs in the bottom of the inning. Lowell, who singled to lead off the inning and advanced to third on a double by J.D. Drew, scored on Jason Varitek's base hit. After Jason Frasor relieved Josh Towers, Coco Crisp plated Drew with a sacrifice bunt. Two batters later, Varitek extended Boston's lead to 13-9 when Frasor was called for a balk.

"We thought it was going to be a cakewalk when it was 10-1, but it turned out to be a pretty close game and you don't want to give away these games - especially when you get out to such a big lead," Lowell said.

Four relievers bridged the gap to Jonathan Papelbon, who pitched the ninth to pick up his 32nd save of the season.

After the Blue Jays opened the scoring on Rios' run-scoring single in the first, Lowell put the Red Sox on top in the bottom of the inning, smashing a three-run home run over the Green Monster off Blue Jays rookie starter Jesse Litsch.

"Litsch doesn't really throw anything straight, a lot of cutters and that pitch he tried to come in on and it kind of stayed up in the zone," Lowell said. "I took a good swing and I was kind of willing it to go over the wall. I was not sure it was enough."

Litsch (5-7) lasted just 3 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs and seven hits. The righthander struck out two and walked one, suffering his third loss in his last five starts.

"It was a battle for him, but those guys do that to you in the first place," Gibbons said. "He got ahead of some guys, he wasn't able to put some guys away and they got some key hits when he was up in the count on them."

The Red Sox extended their lead to 5-1 in the third on two sacrifice flies by David Ortiz and Drew.

Boston's five-run fourth inning, highlighted by Pedroia's two-run single to left, expanded its lead to nine.

"When Mike (Lowell) hit that home run, it kind of lifted us," said Pedroia, who scored three runs. "I don't know how many hits we had, but we scored a lot of runs and anytime you do that, you have a good chance of winning."

Ortiz followed with a single, loading the bases for Lowell, who hit a ground ball to third baseman Troy Glaus. The ball found its way between Glaus' legs and into left field, plating Pedroia and Ellsbury. Drew capped off the inning with his second sacrifice fly of the game.