ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The return of catcher Victor Martinez after four weeks on the disabled list helped to deepen a Red Sox offense that had seemed dormant in his absence. Martinez drove in a run (marking the first run driven in by a Sox catcher in July) and David Ortiz smashed a pair of home runs -- his 35th career multi-homer game with the Sox -- to help lead the Sox to a 6-3 victory over the Angels.
After Adrian Beltre tripled to lead off the second inning, Martinez jumped on the first pitch he'd seen in more than four weeks, lining a run-scoring single to center against new Angels starter Dan Haren. One inning later, Ortiz ambushed a Haren fastball for a solo homer down the right-field line to give the Sox a 2-1 lead. Ortiz later crushed a two-run homer against reliever Fernando Rodney in the eighth inning, giving him 21 homers on the season.
That provided the Sox with all the offense they needed on a night when starter Clay Buchholz worked his way through some early struggles to deliver a dominant outing. Buchholz (11-5) gave up a solo homer to Bobby Abreu in the first, and allowed four of the first seven batters he faced to reach base, loading the bases with none out in the bottom of the second. But he worked around the bases-loaded, no-out jam, and kept the Halos off the scoreboard over the remainder of his seven innings. He finished the night having allowed one run on five hits while striking out seven, tossing 114 pitches.
Though reliever Scott Atchison gave up a two-run homer in the eighth, closer Jonathan Papelbon came on with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to record his 23rd save of the year, and his first save of more than three outs in 2010.
The game featured two other notable developments:
--Haren, making his Angels debut one day after the Halos acquired him in a trade with the Diamondbacks, left the game in the top of the fifth inning after Kevin Youkilis drilled a line drive off his right forearm. The injury was initially diagnosed as a contusion, but Haren -- who allowed two runs and struck out eight in 4 2/3 innings -- will be examined by Dr. Lewis Yocum on Tuesday.
--Both benches were warned after Rodney drilled Adrian Beltre with a pitch immediately following Ortiz' homer in the eighth inning.
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