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Bay clubs Red Sox past Orioles

Aug 19, 2008 - 3:43 AM BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Jason Bay had been doing everything for the Boston Red Sox - except hitting the long ball. Now, he really is doing everything.

The recently acquired left fielder belted a pair of homers and drove in four runs to lead the Red Sox past the Baltimore Orioles, 6-3, on Monday to open up a three-game set.

"With the guys in front of me, I get up there and two or three times a game there are guys on base, and it's part of my job to drive in runs," Bay said. "I was just trying to keep it simple and then boom, you catch a couple."

That was just enough support for Jon Lester (12-4), who cruised to his best start in a month, yielding just one run over seven innings to win for the ninth time in his last 10 decisions.

"I just pounded the strike zone when we got ahead, we didn't let off the gas pedal, we went after guys," Lester said. "(I) proved to them I could throw strike one, and then we got some early contact later in the game and got some easy outs."

The win snapped a two-game skid for the Red Sox, who remained in the driver's seat in the American League wild card hunt.

Bay, who was acquired from Pittsburgh in the controversial three-team deal that sent Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers, came into Monday's game hitting .328 in a Boston uniform with 12 RBI, 15 runs and two steals in 15 games. But while Ramirez has six homers since arriving in Los Angeles, slugging the Dodgers into contention in the process, Bay had gone deep just once.

He doubled that total early on, leading off the second inning with a deep drive to right field to stake the Red Sox to a 1-0 lead. Catcher Jason Varitek, mired in a season-long offensive slump, followed two batters later with a homer of his own.

But it wasn't until the eighth inning that the Red Sox were able to pull away - and once again, it was Bay doing the damage. After David Ortiz reached on an error by former teammate Kevin Millar, Bay hammered his second homer of the night into the left-center field stands to give Boston a 4-1 advantage.

"I don't really consider myself a home run hitter, even though I have hit some home runs," Bay said. "I'm more of a doubles hitter with balls that tend to carry out of the ballpark."

It was Bay's 12th multi-homer game and his second this season.

Lester allowed just five baserunners and struck out five in seven innings.

"He was good. He was going against one of the hottest hitting teams in the league tonight," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "He's an innings eater at an young age, but they're quality innings."

Lester's Baltimore counterpart, Jeremy Guthrie (10-9), came into the game as one of the hottest starters in baseball, having given up just one run in each of his last four starts.

Guthrie settled down after surrendering the two homers in the second, but still lost for just the second time since June 12.

Aubrey Huff provided all the firepower for the Orioles, homering in the fourth and doubling in a pair of runs in the eighth, which brought Baltimore within a single run before Jonathan Papelbon got Ramon Hernandez to pop out to right.

Papelbon registered his 33rd save in 37 chances for the Red Sox, continuing his dominance over the Orioles in the process. In 21 career appearances, he has given up just one earned run, compiling a 2-0 record with 16 saves and a minuscule 0.45 ERA. The Red Sox have won 20 of the 21 games in which he has appeared.