Ortiz helps Red Sox set club mark for homers

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Derek Lowe made certain the Boston Red Sox wouldn't waste another offensive barrage against the Baltimore Orioles.

Lowe pitched six innings of six-hit ball, and David Ortiz homered and drove in four runs to lead the Red Sox to a 9-2 victory Tuesday night.

Boston got four homers and 16 hits Monday, but still lost 13-10 in a game in which Lowe was ejected for arguing an umpire's call.

On this night, Lowe departed only because his pitch count was at 109.

Lowe (15-6) struck out five and walked two in winning his fourth straight decision since losing two in a row to Baltimore in early August.

"He's been very consistent," Boston manager Grady Little said. "That's what we've been looking for. I think the kid is getting hot at the right time for us."

Boston remained 3½ games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East and widened its wild-card lead over Seattle to 1½ games, pending the Mariners' late home game with Texas.

Lowe was delighted with the performance, especially because he didn't have his best stuff.

"These are the games you're most proud of because it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that I wasn't exactly accurate with a lot of pitches," he said. "After yesterday we were looking forward to bouncing back and getting a win, and we did."

Lowe may not have been incredibly sharp, but he still proved difficult to hit.

"He really great movement on his pitches tonight," said Orioles outfielder Larry Bigbie. "I had two hits, but one was on a broken bat. As soon as you'd start to swing, the ball would drop off the table."

With his towering home run in the third inning, Ortiz enabled the Red Sox to set a club single-season record for homers (214) and extra-base hits (591).

The shot also gave Boston a 4-0 lead and propelled the Red Sox to their sixth win in eight games.

Bill Mueller and Jason Varitek also homered for the Red Sox, who improved to 6-8 against the pesky Orioles.

Boston now has 216 home runs and 593 extra-base hits, 14 short of the Seattle Mariners' major league record of 607, set in 1996.

Bigbie and Jack Cust each had an RBI for the Orioles, whose three-game winning streak ended.

The Red Sox went up 2-0 in the second inning against Damian Moss (1-4). Damian Jackson drove in a run with the third of four straight Boston singles, and Mueller added a sacrifice fly.

Manny Ramirez opened the third with a single and Ortiz followed with his 26th homer, a titanic shot to right that became the 33rd drive in the 12-year history of Camden Yards to land on Eutaw Street.

Moss, obtained in the trade the sent Sidney Ponson to San Francisco, allowed four runs and seven hits in three innings. The left-hander has yielded 14 runs in his last three starts.

"I'm doing everything I can to get back on track," Moss said. "It's getting there, but it's just a slow process for me right now."

A run-scoring grounder by Ortiz made it 5-0 in the fourth against Sean Douglass, making his 2003 debut for the Orioles.

Bigbie singled in a run with two outs in the fifth, but Boston went ahead 7-1 in the sixth on Mueller's 19th homer and an RBI single by Ortiz.

The Red Sox scored an unearned run in the eighth, and Varitek hit his 24th homer in the ninth.

Cust drove in Baltimore's last run with an RBI double in the eighth.

Game notes
Boston eclipsed its HR mark set in 1977, and the extra-base record of 1997. ... Red Sox RF Trot Nixon left in the second inning with a strained left calf. He will likely be held out Wednesday, Little said. ... Baltimore 2B Brian Roberts was a late scratch with a sprained ankle. ... Mueller needs one more homer to enable Boston to become the third team to have seven players hit 20 HR in the same season. The Red Sox are also one sacrifice fly shot of tying the club record of 59.