Sox dump Orioles, regain AL East lead

Boston enters All-Star break tops in division

All is again right within the baseball realm as the Sox enter Major League Baseball’s All-Star break back in first place.

Another enigmatic — but excellent — mound performance from Daisuke Matsuzaka, coupled with some opportunistic offense, led Boston to a 2-1 win over the Orioles at Fenway Park.

The victory gave the Sox a 5-1 record on their homestand to close out baseball’s traditional first half, and also pushed them past a suddenly struggling Rays team and back into first place in the American League East.

“We’re back in first place because we have a bunch of grinders on this team,” said Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. “It’s been somebody different every day that’s contributed to our ball club. Whether its J.D. Drew, [Dustin] Pedroia, or [Jason] Varitek or whoever. It’s not any one guy and it’s not Manny and David every day either.”

The Sox jumped on the board in the first against Baltimore right-handed starter Daniel Cabrera — who is just a bad matchup against the patient Boston offense — on the strength of a Drew RBI double into the left field corner.

Sean Casey started off another Boston scoring rally in the fourth when he led off with frame with a two-bagger to left-center field. Alex Cora followed with a sacrifice bunt down the third base line, and the rumbling Casey scored on a Pedroia fielder’s choice groundout to shortstop.

While Cabrera was typically wild with his offerings and out of the game in the fifth inning, Matsuzaka was piling up walks and zeroes on the scoreboard simultaneously. The Japanese right-hander is radically different from any other pitcher on the Sox staff, but he again produced bottom line results. Matsuzaka threw 115 laborious pitches over six shutout innings of work and walked five O’s hitters, but he also fanned seven and allowed only four hits.

Hideki Okajima relieved Matsuzaka in the seventh and walked a pair, but Manny Delcarmen put out the fire and followed with a dominant eighth inning. To open the ninth, Papelbon ambled in to “Shipping up to Boston” and finished it off for his 28th save.