Clement paces Sox in rout of Reds

BOSTON -- On a night when Red Sox legend Carlton Fisk was honored for one of the most famous home runs in baseball history, the modern-day Red Sox needed no such drama to wipe out the Cincinnati Reds in the first meeting between the two clubs since the 1975 World Series.
Paced by a 16-hit attack and the strong pitching of starter Matt Clement, the Red Sox routed the Reds, 10-3, at Fenway Park.

After falling a single shy of the cycle on Sunday, Johnny Damon led the Boston attack with another three-hit performance, his 28th multi-hit game of the season and the 11th time he's had at least three hits in a game.

Manny Ramirez belted his 13th homer, a three-run shot into the right-field stands off Wily Mo Pena's glove. The long ball highlighted a five-run sixth inning that put the game away for Boston, which evened its record at 5-5 in Interleague Play.

Clement (7-1) rebounded from his only loss of the season, holding a potent Cincinnati lineup to six hits over eight innings. He struck out a season-high nine and left after throwing 108 pitches.

"That's what's going to get us back to the playoffs. If we can continue to get it, then it's a no-brainer. We'll be in [the playoffs] in October," predicted Damon. "If we don't, then we're going to have to battle. Clement did a great job. Wakefield did a great job [Sunday], and hopefully [David] Wells can continue to pitch well for us [on Tuesday]."

Early on, Reds starter Eric Milton (3-8) appeared equal to the task, retiring the first seven batters he faced before Jay Payton doubled with one out in the third.

"I was swinging at a lot of high pitches but fortunately I got to one, and I was able to get on and get this rolling early on," said Payton, who had two hits and scored twice. "It looked like Milton liked [throwing] his fastball, and he kept pounding us and we kept aggressive and were able to get some hits off of him."

Following a Bellhorn groundout to third, Damon singled to third, setting the stage for the first of two key plays of the game.

Edgar Renteria hit a line drive toward Reds center fielder Ryan Freel, who broke in initially before watching it fly over his head for a two-out, two-run double.

Then in the fourth, following a Ramirez double to right, Reds catcher Javier Valentin threw wildly on a simple throw back to Milton, allowing Ramirez to advance to third. With the infield drawn in, Jason Varitek singled past a diving Felipe Lopez at short and the rout was on.

"I think it started with our pitching," said Varitek, who was with his wife at 4 a.m. ET Monday for the birth of their third daughter, Caroline. "It allowed us to be in this game long enough to score some runs. We made some easy outs early in the game, but then we were able to get some things started.

"I think overall we had some good at-bats. Different people contributed today just like [Sunday], but I just think it all started with our starting pitching."

Ramirez, who had gone 69 at-bats without a homer before going deep on Sunday, also doubled and scored in the fourth as the Red Sox built a 5-0 advantage against Milton. The Cincinnati lefty allowed 11 hits and nine earned runs over 5 2/3 innings.

"That's the way our offense is supposed to do it," Damon said. "We've been waiting for this, and hopefully this is a time for us to get going and keep rolling. I like what I'm seeing, especially seeing Manny hit some home runs. That's a great sight to see.

"That's what I'm supposed to do as a leadoff hitter, get on base any way I can."

For Clement, Monday was a good way to put last Tuesday's 9-2 loss in St. Louis behind him.

"Other than Boomer [Wells], we struggled the last couple of starts, all of us, and I'm No. 1 on the list," Clement said. "Wake [Tim Wakefield] came up big [on Sunday] night. If anything, I put pressure on myself to follow him up with another outing and maybe try to build some momentum with this rotation."

"Any time you can do that and not have to use those guys down there [in the bullpen], it's nice," added fill-in manager Brad Mills, while Terry Francona attended his daughter's high school graduation. "It was nice to see Matt get in a groove and start throwing the ball really well. He had that long at-bat in the fourth inning against [Ken] Griffey, who took him to 3-2. He kept fouling pitches off. I was a little bit concerned there because it was hot tonight."

The Reds bounced back with two runs in the fifth before the Sox put the game away with their sixth-inning rally.

Matt Mantei struck out two in a scoreless ninth for the Sox.

Source: http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/