Josh Beckett was strong for 8 2/3 innings Saturday afternoon as he helped lead the Red Sox past the Orioles 6-2 in front of a sellout crowd at Fenway Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The strong outing for Beckett led to his MLB leading 15th win of the season.
Although he was flirting with a complete game shutout, Beckett had to rely on the bullpen to finish off the game for him as he ran into some trouble in the 9th. Brian Roberts led off with a double to deep left. Beckett then got Corey Patterson to foul out and he struck out Nick Markakis. Beckett got Miguel Tejada down to his last strike but Miggy laced a single to left bringing in Roberts from second. Former Marlin and Red Sox Kevin Millar got the better of his old Marlins teammate as he doubled to left 
bringing in Miggy from second. Millar’s RBI double cut the lead to 6-2 and chased Beckett from the game. Terry Francona brought in Manny Delcarmen to face Aubrey Huff. Huff worked a walk from Delcarmen and Francona went to the bullpen again for Jonathan Papelbon. Papelbon had a little easier time than Delcarmen as he got Melvin Mora to pop out to Dustin Pedroia for the Red Sox win and his 27th save.
The Sox got on the board in the 2nd inning off of O’s lefty starter Garrett Olson. Jason Varitek started the inning with single and went to third on a J.D. Drew double. Olson got Coco Crisp to ground back to him on the mound for the first out of the inning. Julio Lugo followed that with a double to deep left that scored Varitek and Drew, giving the Red Sox a 2-0 lead. Olson settled down as he got Pedroia to fly out and he struck out Youkilis to get out of the inning.
The home visiting team added two more runs in the 3rd inning. Olson started out the inning by getting David Ortiz to fly out to left. He then walked Manny Ramirez. Mike Lowell moved Manny over to third with a double. The O’s then decided to walk Varitek to face the lefty Drew. Drew made them pay for it as he hit a single that landed just inside the left field line that scored Manny and Lowell, making it 4-0 Sox. Olson got out of the inning as he got Coco to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.
Beckett was dealing throughout the game. The only time runners reached third base off of him was in the first inning and the 9th inning. In his 8 2/3 innings, he scattered 8 hits, gave up 2 runs and struck out 8. He didn’t issue a free pass to anyone.
Boston would add two more runs in the 8th inning off of Orioles reliever Paul Shuey. Varitek started the inning with a walk. Shuey then got Drew striking out looking. But then he got a little wild as he walked Coco and Lugo to load up the bases for Pedroia. Pedroia kept up his hot hitting as he laced a single, bringing in Varitek and leaving the bases loaded for Youk. O’s skipper Dave Trembley went to the bullpen for Brian Burres. Burres came in and walked Youk bringing in Coco from third for the sixth run of the game for the Sox. Burres finished off the inning by by striking out and Big Papi and getting Manny to ground out.
Curt Schilling will take the ball for his second start since returning from the DL tomorrow. He will be opposed by the “human rain delay” Steve Trachsel. Gametime in Fenway Park Camden Yards is 1:35 PM.
