The Sox set season highs in runs (15) and hits (21) in sweeping Beckett to his 12th win, matching C.C. Sabathia of Cleveland for most in the majors, in a 15-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, losers of 11 straight after dropping three in a row here.
"It never ceases to amaze me the way they can swing the bats," Beckett said after his last start before he heads to San Francisco for Tuesday's All-Star Game.
With their fourth straight win, the Sox opened a 12-game lead in the American League East, the earliest they have led by a dozen games.
"It's awesome," Beckett said. "It's awesome to be on a team that wins a lot of ballgames. To be able to come every day, whether it's my turn to pitch or someone else's, and see what we're capable to do with the bats. The same thing goes with our starting pitching. You have a chance to win with whoever is on the hill.
"We're riding that wave right now. It's a fun time."
After Tampa Bay lost its 10th in a row Wednesday, manager Joe Maddon called it a "perfect growth moment" for his young team. But it took only a few moments to determine this was going to be a "Honey, I Shrunk the D-Rays" kind of night. Beckett struck out the side in the first inning. The Sox sent 11 batters to the plate in the home half.
It was 6-0 after one inning, 9-0 after two, 13-2 after three. Coco Crisp had a grand slam off the Coke bottles in the first inning, walked with the bases loaded in the third, and incredibly came to the plate twice more with the bases loaded, hitting into a double play in the sixth and whiffing in the eighth. Mike Lowell hit a three-run home run in the second, one of a career-high five hits, and knocked in five runs.
J.D. Drew, the leadoff man, had two singles in the first inning, tying a big league record. David Ortiz scored four times in the first six innings and doubled in the second, his first extra-base hit in a dozen games. Jacoby Ellsbury replaced Manny Ramírez in the fifth and had two hits, then was told after the game he was returning to Pawtucket, these half-dozen games serving as a tantalizing preview of coming attractions.
