"I think that [run support] was well-deserved," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "We needed to give him a little cushion like that. He pitched great. Coming out of the bullpen, Doug [Mirabelli] and [pitching coach Al Nipper] said his ball was fluttering all over the place. But it just certainly makes it a little easier to pitch when you have a cushion like that."

Wakefield (2-4) took care of the rest from there, limiting the Orioles to three runs and seven hits over six innings in the Red Sox's 9-3 victory at Fenway Park, Boston's 10th straight against their American League East rival.

Wakefield's only costly mistake came when he gave up a two-run homer to Chris Gomez in the fourth, cutting Boston's lead to three.

But Manny Ramirez, who walked twice in the second inning, belted a tape-measure homer over the Green Monster in the fourth to put the Sox back in command. Wily Mo Pena and Trot Nixon each had two hits for the Red Sox, who won for the fourth time in five tries on the homestand.

"I think the biggest thing was we swung at strikes and we took what he gave us," Francona said. "We didn't crush some balls up the middle because we didn't pull off or try to do too much. We made him work hard. That's what we try to do."

The Red Sox came into Saturday averaging 2.87 runs in each Wakefield start before scoring nine against Baltimore.

"It was really nice," Wakefield said. "Getting that many runs made my job a little easier. I didn't pitch like it, but it made my job a lot easier and I tried to keep us in the game for the time that I was in there.

"I felt like I was pitching well enough -- and sometimes you come out on the short end of the stick and sometimes there are periods of time during the season when [scoring support] happens. I am very happy that we scored five runs in the second, which alleviates a lot of stress on me as I go back out there and try to get my offense back in as soon as possible."

After retiring the side in order in the first, Bedard (4-2) lost his command quickly. He could not record an out in the third after facing three more batters. He allowed seven hits and six runs (five earned) and three walks.

"Bedard is one of the better young lefties in the league already and I thought our approach to him was great," Francona said. "We made him throw a ton of pitches and took what he gave us."

The Red Sox had not pinned a loss on a left-handed starter since beating Seattle's Jarrod Washburn on April 16, a string of five starts and four losses before Saturday.

"When we face lefties, we need certain people to hit," Francona said. "Wily Mo is one of them, and having Mike Lowell be hot helps. With Coco [Crisp] out, it just puts a little more emphasis on certain people in the lineup -- and we had been coming up empty."

After Wakefield left after six innings, Julian Tavarez came in to start the seventh. An inning later, the Sox reliever was once again in the middle of an on-field exchange, plunking Luis Matos on the left hip with a fastball in the eighth. The two exchanged words as Matos made his way to first. Kevin Youkilis stepped in front of Matos, both bullpens emptied and order was quickly restored.

"It was just miscommunication," Youkilis said. "There was just a lot of, 'What did you say? What did you say?' And that was it. Nothing happened."

"Julian told me that if anything happened, he was headed to left field, because he can't afford to get suspended again," Francona added.