Sox thump O’s

Red Sox 6, Orioles 3

MLB. After watching the leaky bullpen squander leads away in their last two heartbreakers against the Orioles, the Boston bats removed all suspense from last night’s contest.

The Sox’ offense dropped a five-spot on the Orioles in the bottom of the first inning and essentially scored the early round TKO in a 6-3 win over the O’s at Fenway Park.

The suddenly potent J.D. Drew knocked in his 10th run of the homestand with an RBI double into the gap in right-center field to kick things off, and then scored on a Garrett Olson wild pitch to give the Sox a quick 2-0 lead.

Drew’s two-base hit extended his hitting streak to 10 games, and Manny Ramirez managed a lone single to lengthen his hitting tear to a season-high 14 games.

After walks to Mike Lowell and Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek capped off the first inning fireworks with a three-run bomb into the Monster Seats that made it 5-0. The round-tripper was the 152nd of Varitek’s Sox career as a catcher, which puts him only five behind Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk for the all-time home record among backstops in Sox history.

The only misstep in Colon’s excellent mound experience was a solo homer served up to Luke Scott in the top of the fifth that made it 5-1. Over the course of his fifth start this season, Big Bart was remarkably consistent and effective against the O’s hitters. His evening was finished after six innings, but the rotund righty allowed a single run and fanned seven Baltimore batters.

Lowell came back in the bottom of the sixth and crushed his ninth home run of the season into the Monster Seats to again enlarge the Sox lead to five runs. David Aardsma and Javy Lopez guided the beaten-down Sox ’pen through the middle innings, and Jonathan Papelbon closed things out.