BOSTON (AP) – David Ortiz hit two homers and drove in a career-high six runs to lead the Boston Red Sox from an early four-run deficit to a 9-8 win over the Chicago White Sox on Friday night in a meeting of the AL’s two best teams.

Ortiz went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and broke a 5-all tie with a leadoff homer in the seventh then added a three-run shot in the eighth for his 28th homer and 99th RBI of the season.

The Red Sox took the matchup between the AL’s two best teams, winning their fifth straight game and 13th in 15. It also was their 12th consecutive win at Fenway Park, their second best home streak in history. Chicago lost its second game in its last six.

The Red Sox held on in the ninth when Curt Schilling allowed a solo homer to Tadahito Iguchi and a two-run shot to Paul Konerko.

Mark Buehrle (13-5) gave up two homers – a two-run shot by Jason Varitek that tied the game in the fifth and the solo homer by Ortiz. Buehrle had allowed no homers in his previous five starts and one in his last 11. He allowed 12 hits, the second most this season, in seven innings.

David Wells battled Buehrle before leaving with two outs and a runner on first in the seventh. Chad Bradford (1-0) replaced him and retired both batters he faced.

Ortiz, who entered the game with a .206 batting average in 91 at-bats since the All-Star break, doubled in Boston’s first two runs in the third, singled and scored on Varitek’s homer then hit a 2-2 pitch into the left-field seats.

In the ninth, he followed walks to Gabe Kapler and Edgar Renteria with a homer to straightaway center off Bobby Jenks.

The game featured the best road team in the majors and the best home team in the AL. Chicago is 38-18 away from home, while Boston is 37-18 at Fenway Park.

The White Sox led 4-0 after two innings, but the Red Sox tied the game on Varitek’s homer, the ninth off Buehrle this season.

Chicago scored two unearned runs in the first when Scott Podsednik led off with a single and took third when left fielder Manny Ramirez dropped a liner by Konerko, who stayed at first. Aaron Rowand then tripled.The White Sox made it 4-0 in the second on Carl Everett’s two-run single.

Boston cut the lead to 4-3 on Ortiz’s two-run double in the third and Kapler’s RBI single in the fourth.

Everett led off the fifth with his 17th homer before Varitek tied it in the bottom of the inning when he followed Ortiz’s single with his 18th homer, breaking a tie with Chicago’s A.J. Pierzynski for most homers by a catcher in the majors this year.

Notes:Johnny Damon extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single in the sixth, his third streak of at least 15 games this season. .. Everett’s 3 RBIs gave him 37 in his last 43 games. … Wells issued no walks for his fourth straight game, a span of 26 innings. He’s walked 12 batters in 130 innings and none in 11 of his 21 starts. … Buehrle allowed more than five runs for the third time in 24 starts this year. … Boston is 18-20 in series openers.

AP-ES-08-12-05 2210EDT