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CHICAGO (AP) -- Curt Schilling started cruising as soon as the Boston Red Sox scored six runs in the first two innings, making his quest for win No. 15 much easier.

"You get six runs against a guy like Mark Buehrle, the No. 1 goal is to make sure they don't get back in the game," Schilling said.

And he did just that.

Schilling allowed three hits in seven shutout innings Friday night and Manny Ramirez hit a grand slam in the second, helping the Red Sox roll to a 10-1 win over the Chicago White Sox.

Schilling (15-6) threw just 79 pitches -- 60 for strikes -- and Boston won for the 10th time in 13 games.

He appeared on the way to his first shutout since joining the Red Sox, but wanted to save some energy for the stretch run.

"You know what? This is probably the first time in my career where I came out of a game like that," Schilling said. "I'm staying out there for one reason and that's to throw a shutout and right now that means nothing.

"Hopefully, I'll have another 100-something innings left in the season."

Boston's plan is to play plenty of games in October. The Red Sox moved within 7½ games of the first-place New York Yankees in the AL East, the closest Boston has been since July 30, and remained tied with Texas for the wild-card lead.

Orlando Cabrera homered and drove in four runs for the streaking Red Sox, now 16 games over .500.

Ramirez's 31st homer this season was the 16th slam of his career, tying Robin Ventura of the Dodgers for the most among active players.

"I don't care about a grand slam, I care about winning," Ramirez said. "I know I'm a blessed player, a special player. Everything that I've done, I'm just happy."

Schilling walked none and struck out six in beating the White Sox for the second time in a week. In his last outing six days ago, he gave up five hits in eight innings, including two homers.

Boston jumped on Buehrle (11-7), who entered 4-0 against the Red Sox in his career.

Johnny Damon reached on shortstop Jose Valentin's error to start the game, Cabrera walked and Ramirez singled to load the bases. The first run scored on David Ortiz's double-play grounder before Jason Varitek hit an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.

In the second, singles by Bill Mueller, Ricky Gutierrez and Damon loaded the bases, and with two outs Ramirez lofted a long homer to left.

"The guy has owned me over my career," Buehrle said of Ramirez, who is 7-for-13 with three homers and eight RBI against the left-hander.

"We're down 6-0, trying to come back against Schilling and that's pretty tough," Buehrle added. "He's one of the best pitchers in baseball. I didn't give the team a chance to win today."

Cabrera hit a three-run homer, his second since joining the Red Sox in a trade from Montreal, to make it 9-0 in the seventh and finish Buehrle.

Buehrle gave up 11 hits and nine runs -- seven earned -- in six-plus innings.

Cabrera added an RBI double in the ninth.

The closest Chicago came to scoring off Schilling came in the fifth when Carl Everett tripled leading off. But Schilling struck out Valentin and then induced two straight popups.

Chicago broke through in the eighth against Ramiro Mendoza on Aaron Rowand's double, a walk and an RBI single by Joe Crede.

Game notes

A crowd of 38,720 was the ninth sellout of the season, a U.S. Cellular Field record. They booed the White Sox in the fifth when they didn't score and again at the end of the game. ... The Red Sox activated Mark Bellhorn (broken thumb) from the disabled list before the game but he did not play. ... White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen served the final game of his second straight two-game suspension for calling umpire Hunter Wendelstedt a liar. Bench coach Harold Baines ran the team and was 1-3 this week. Baines said before the game he had no desire to be a full-time manager, adding he enjoyed the strategy but didn't have the personality for side issues, like being vocal with umpires. ... Schilling hit Chicago leadoff hitter Timo Perez with a high pitch leading off the first. Perez homered off Schilling last week in Boston.