Helton, Rockies rough up Schilling, Red Sox

Rockies 12, Red Sox 2

BOSTON (AP) -- Brad Hawpe stayed focused on each pitch, not the star pitcher on the mound.

Hawpe hit a three-run homer off ace Curt Schilling in the fifth inning, breaking open a close game and leading the Colorado Rockies to a 12-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night.

"I'm more worried about going up there looking for strikes and not worried about who you're facing," Hawpe said after giving Colorado a 6-2 lead with his ninth homer of the year.

Schilling (6-3) nearly escaped that jam when he retired two batters after allowing singles to Kaz Matsui and Matt Holliday. But he left a changeup high and Hawpe took advantage, hitting the ball into the wind and over the bullpen in right-center.

"I had a manageable, winnable game in the fifth and I gave up a three-run homer," said Schilling, who came within one out of a no-hitter in his previous start.

The Rockies piled on in the sixth with Todd Helton's three-run double and three more in the eighth when Helton added his fourth RBI on a groundout. He had gone eight games without driving in a run.

"It's always good to get space against an offensive club like that," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. "I don't know how many games we've had this year when we've had three three-run innings, probably none."

Boston's lead in the AL East dropped to 8 1/2 games, its smallest since the Red Sox led by nine after games of May 16. The second-place New York Yankees won their eighth straight Wednesday, 7-2 over Arizona.

"You get blown out like that, you can deal with it, not like a 4-3 loss," Boston's Kevin Youkilis said. "It's one of those nights when you want to get the game over."

Josh Fogg (2-5) won for the first time in seven starts, allowing two runs and seven hits in five innings. He struck out his last batter, J.D. Drew, with a runner at third.

"He kind of wiggled throughout," Hurdle said. "He put some zeros up, but he pitched out of the stretch quite a bit."

Schilling followed one of the best starts of his career with one of his poorest since he came to Boston before the 2004 season. Last Thursday, he beat Oakland 1-0 and allowed one hit -- a single by Shannon Stewart with two outs in the ninth.

On Wednesday, the right-hander gave up an infield single to the first hitter he faced, Willy Taveras, and left after five innings trailing 6-2. He allowed nine hits. It was just the 11th time in 87 starts spanning four seasons that Schilling yielded at least six runs.

All six came with two outs.

That's "absolutely" more frustrating, Schilling said, "because you're one pitch away" from ending the threat.

The first pitch to Hawpe in the fifth was very hittable.

"It's good to beat a great pitcher like that," Hawpe said. "He'd thrown me four or five different pitches throughout my first two at-bats, so going up there I had no clue what to look for. But he kind of got a mistake out over the plate."

Colorado, held to four hits in a 2-1 loss in Tuesday night's series opener, had six in the first two innings as it took a 3-0 lead. Mike Lowell's 12th homer made it 3-1 in the bottom of the second, and Manny Ramirez singled home another run in the third.

Helton's three-run double off Javier Lopez in the sixth came after Kyle Snyder walked the bases loaded.

Garrett Atkins' RBI double in the first staked Fogg to a 1-0 lead. The Rockies added two runs in the second on Matsui's run-scoring single and a throwing error by third baseman Lowell.

The first two Rockies batters reached in the sixth when Snyder walked Yorvit Torrealba and Troy Tulowitzki. Both moved up on a sacrifice before Snyder walked Holliday intentionally with two outs. Helton then lined a double to the opposite field that left fielder Ramirez couldn't reach.

Game notes
Schilling entered 6-1 in 12 starts since his opening-day loss. ... Ramirez's RBI gave him 1,550, tying Fred McGriff for 37th on the career list. ... Holliday went 3-for-4, increasing his major league-leading hit total to 93 and his NL-best batting average to .352. ... The Rockies scored a total of 12 runs in their previous four games. The Red Sox allowed a total of 12 runs in their previous five. ... David Ortiz went 1-for-4 with a single and has reached base with a walk or hit in 30 straight games. ... Drew, whose sacrifice fly in the eighth drove in the go-ahead run Tuesday, struck out twice with runners in scoring position.