Big First Inning Leads to Win for Big Bart

After jumping out to a 5-0 first-inning lead, it looked like it was going to be a laugher Wednesday night, but the offense didn't do much after that and the bullpen almost blew it the 9th as the Sox held on for a 6-3 win over the Orioles.

Bartolo Colon bounced back from his worst outing of the year to improve to 4-1. The big man looked good all night, going 6 strong innings allowing just 1 run on 5 hits and striking out 7.

The victory evened the season series with the pesky Birds at 4 games apiece.

BOX SCORE: Red Sox 6, Orioles 3

J.D. Drew had another big hit, doubling down the line to score Ellsbury with the first run of the game. A few batters later, Jason Varitek capped the inning with a 3-run shot over the Monster to make it 5-0. It was Tek's 7th homer of the season and first hitting right-handed.

Reports after the game said Tek isn't feeling well and most likely will get the day off on Thursday.

Mike Lowell also homered in the 6th to make it 6-1.

It got a little dicey in the 9th. Mike Timlin started the inning with a 5-run lead, but was tagged for 3 hits and a couple of runs, forcing Jonathan Papelbon to have to come in and get the final out for his 19th save of the season and making his fantasy owners very happy.

In Timlin's defense, he should have gotten out of the game after allowing just one run, but Dustin Pedroia couldn't handle a hot shot by Adam Jones that would have ended the game.

Despite getting a couple of hits Tuesday night, Dustin went 0-for-4 again and is still scuffling at the plate. His struggles have carried over into the field too as he has committed a couple of errors in the last few weeks. Being the pro that he is, it's just a matter of time until he breaks out of it.