BOSTON (AP) — Pinch-hitter Victor Martinez hit a three-run double to break a seventh-inning tie, and the Boston Red Sox beat Baltimore 7-5 on Wednesday night to improve to 13-2 against the Orioles this season.

Billy Wagner (1-0) pitched a perfect seventh inning, striking out two, for the victory – the first AL decision of his career. After Daniel Bard put two men on in the eighth, Jonathan Papelbon got four outs for his 35th save, giving up one run.

Jason Bay had three hits for Boston, which maintained its two-game lead in the AL wild-card race over Texas, a 10-0 winner over Cleveland.

Matt Albers (2-5) faced three batters, giving up two hits, including Dustin Pedroia’s comebacker that bounced off Albers’ leg toward third base for a game-tying single.

Nick Markakis had three hits for Baltimore, and Brian Roberts doubled in the fifth inning to become the fourth player in major league history to have three seasons with at least 50 doubles. Hall of Famers Tris Speaker, Paul Waner and Stan Musial are the others.

Roberts drew a bases-loaded walk in the sixth to tie the game before Felix Pie singled up the middle to give Baltimore its only lead, 4-3.

In the seventh, Kevin Youkilis and Bay singled, then Mike Lowell walked to load the bases. Martinez lined a double to left-center and Brian Anderson, who ran for the gimpy Lowell, raced around from first to score and give Boston a 7-4 lead.

Paul Byrd, who allowed seven runs in 2 1-3 innings against the Chicago White Sox in his previous start, gave up two runs in five innings Wednesday night. But he was deprived of a win when Baltimore scored two in the sixth off Manny Delcarmen.

Matt Wieters singled, and one out later Ty Wigginton reached when Delcarmen misplayed his slow roller for an error. Cesar Izturis reached on an infield single when shortstop Alex Gonzalez fielded it and his only play was to try to outrun Wieters to third base; everyone was safe.

Roberts walked to tie the game 3-all and chase Delcarmen. Pie hit the first pitch from Ramon Ramirez to center for a run-scoring single. But Pedroia, who had the first regular-season two-homer game of his career on Tuesday night, tied it with the shot off Albers’ leg.

Bay had a two-run single in the first inning, giving him 100 RBIs to go with his 30 homers. He’s the fifth Red Sox left fielder to reach that milestone, joining Manny Ramirez and Hall of Famers Jim Rice, Carl Yastrzemski and Ted Williams.

NOTES: The teams combined to use 13 pitchers. … Baltimore’s Luke Scott was 0 for 16 before his fourth-inning double. … One day after hitting six homers, the Red Sox had just two extra-base hits, Martinez’s three-run double and an RBI double by Jason Varitek. … The Red Sox had two runners thrown out at the plate. … Red Sox RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka made a rehab start in Single-A Salem of the Carolina League in a playoff game against Winston-Salem, going 6 2-3 innings and allowing one run, three hits and a walk, striking out seven. … The Orioles acquired LHP Sean Henn from Minnesota for a player to be named or cash. To make room on the roster, they moved OF Adam Jones to the 60-day DL.

Copy the Story Link