Beckett wins 13th, Youkilis goes 4 for 4 with homer as Red Sox blank Orioles 4-0

Beckett wins 13th, Red Sox blank Orioles 4-0

BALTIMORE — Josh Beckett pitched seven innings of six-hit ball for his major league-leading 13th win, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis homered, and the Boston Red Sox cruised past the Baltimore Orioles 4-0 Saturday night.

Youkilis went 4 for 4 with a walk. In the first two games of the series, he’s 7 for 8 with two homers, three RBIs and three runs scored.

Newcomer Victor Martinez drove in a run for the Red Sox, who are 10-2 against Baltimore this season. Boston clinched its ninth straight series win over the Orioles and improved to 25-10 in Baltimore since Sept. 23, 2005.

As usual, Camden Yards sounded like Fenway Park. Around 70 percent of the sellout crowd of 49,384 were cheering for the Red Sox, whose third straight victory moved them within a half-game of the first-place New York Yankees in the AL East.

Beckett (13-4) struck out five and walked two. The right-hander is 11-2 with a 2.28 ERA since April 30, and has not allowed an earned run in seven of his last 13 starts.

Baltimore rookie David Hernandez (3-3) gave up two runs in 4 1-3 innings after limiting Boston to one run over seven innings last Sunday

The Orioles went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position, hit into three double plays and fell to 4-11 since the All-Star break.

Pedroia put the Red Sox up 1-0 in the first inning with his sixth homer. Boston loaded the bases with two outs in the second before Hernandez retired Pedroia on a grounder.

Youkilis made it 2-0 in the fifth with his 19th homer. David Ortiz then chased Hernandez with a double, and two straight walks by Mark Hendrickson loaded the bases before Jed Lowrie fouled out to end the inning.

An RBI single by Martinez and a run-scoring double by Jason Bay made it 4-0 in the sixth. Obtained Friday in a trade with the Cleveland Indians, Martinez batted third and went 1 for 4 in his Boston debut.

NOTES: The Red Sox stranded 15 and went 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position. … Boston RF Josh Reddick received his first major league start and got his first two hits, doubles in the third and seventh. … Luke Scott went 1 for 2 with a walk against Beckett and is 8 for 14 lifetime against the right-hander. … Bay left in the sixth with a right hamstring cramp. … The crowd was the fourth-largest in the 18-year history of Camden Yards.