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Anderson drives in five as Angels pound Red Sox

Jul 19, 2008 - 5:37 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Garret Anderson homered and drove in five runs to pace a 14-hit attack as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim opened their second half by pounding the Boston Red Sox, 11-3, on Friday.

Anderson singled in a run during a three-run first inning and snapped a 3-3 tie with a solo blast in the fourth. He added RBI singles in both the fifth and sixth as Anaheim scored eight unanswered runs.

Anderson finished 4-for-4, giving him his first four-hit game since August 29, 2007, at Seattle.

"I have been seeing the ball pretty good for a while now, just starting to see results right now," Anderson said. "It was just good to come out and put runs on the board and apply pressure."

Casey Kotchman, Maicer Izturis and Vladimir Guerrero had two hits apiece for the Angels, who have won three straight and four of five.

"Our guys swung the bats well tonight and John (Lackey) gave us a good start," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "It was good to see this offense do what it is capable of doing."

Lackey (7-2) tossed seven solid innings, allowing three runs and four hits while walking two and striking out six. The veteran righthander entered the outing 1-6 with a 6.27 ERA in 11 career starts against the Red Sox.

"Let's just talk about this start and not the others against those guys," Lackey said. "I felt great tonight, and it was good to score a ton of runs and give me runs to work with."

The Angels jumped on rookie Clay Buchholz in the first as Kotchman and Izturis slapped back-to-back doubles to open the scoring. Buchholz (2-5) then allowed an RBI single to Guerrero before walking Torii Hunter and surrendering Anderson's first RBI single.

"It was a long first inning for (Buchholz)," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "He managed to settle down, but the floodgates opened in the sixth after the error and turned the game into an ugly one."

Boston battled back to tie the game on a two-run homer by Kevin Youkilis in the second and a solo blast by Manny Ramirez in the third.

"I would only take back one pitch in this game," Lackey said. "Manny hit a pitch that I located in the right spot, but he just hit it. The pitch to Youkilis was a mistake and I wish I could take that back."

Anderson's solo homer put the Angels back on top.

"He's a guy that can carry a team when he gets his stroke going and you was that tonight," Scioscia said of Anderson.

An error by Red Sox shortstop Alex Cora opened the floodgates in the fifth, leading to four unearned runs and ending Buchholz's night. The 23-year-old was charged with eight runs - four earned - and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings.

"I was just around the zone and never had good command of any of my pitches," Buchholz said. "I allowed runners to be on base almost every inning it seemed and you just can't do that against their lineup because they take advantage of other teams' mistakes."

The setback dropped Boston's road record to 21-30.