Late bloomers

Could Perlozzo have been thinking about the long walk out to remove the sailing Jeremy Guthrie with one out in that ninth inning? Could that decision have been rattling around in his head?

The Orioles had gotten to seven-game winner Beckett for two first-inning runs, then saw the Sox ace leave with what first would be called an avulsion of the right middle finger. The Orioles' starter had mastered the Sox over 8 1/3 innings, until things turned suddenly and dramatically -- once Guthrie made that walk back to the dugout.

"It's amazing, here of all places," Sox manager Terry Francona said, the cheers after the 6-5 comeback victory still ringing from the 36,379 enjoying Mother's Day and a walkoff at Fenway Park. "A dropped popup and, the next thing you know, a combination of some magic here and some really good players that don't quit. You just want a chance to get the tying run to the plate."

They had that, and more. After 91 pitches from Guthrie had dazzled Sox batters, the righthander was pulled after that popup squirted out of catcher Ramon Hernandez's glove, allowing Coco Crisp to reach. The succession of successful at-bats quickly became Red Sox lore.

All the celebration swept away -- for a moment -- some of the concern over the early exit of Beckett, who struck out seven among the 12 outs he got. On a curveball to Kevin Millar, Beckett felt the skin tear beneath the pad on the middle finger, though he finished off Millar and Jay Gibbons before being removed from the game.

"My skin broke and it just ripped more and more each pitch," Beckett said. "It is not a blister. My skin just tore. What the timetable is, I'm not sure what we are looking at. Hopefully I can make my next start, but that is a big hopefully."

By the end of this one, though, few of the Fenway faithful were thinking about Beckett, because of what happened in the ninth.

After Hernandez's error, David Ortiz doubled to left-center off Danys Baez, scoring Crisp. Wily Mo Peña, batting in place of Manny Ramírez, who was removed with a tight hamstring before the top half of the inning, singled to left. Chris Ray came on and walked J.D. Drew. Suddenly, the tying run was at the plate, with the bases loaded.