BOSTON -- It was the fifth inning and the Red Sox, losers of their previous four games, were getting that sinking feeling again.
They trailed the Cleveland Indians, 4-0. Their offense consisted of exactly one single over the first four innings. Worse, they were in the process of wasting a start by their ace, Pedro Martinez.
"It was kind of deflating," said catcher Jason Varitek, "when you're down early in the game and he's on the mound. I don't think we ever panicked. But it was deflating."
In the home half of the fifth, however, it all began to turn around. By the time Martinez took the mound for the start of the sixth, the Red Sox had erased Cleveland's lead, staked Martinez to a 6-4 lead, and were on their way to snapping the losing streak with a 7-4 comeback win over the Indians.
The victory, coupled with the Yankees' loss in Baltimore, vaulted the Sox back into first place, a position they had fallen out of Sunday as they wound down a disappointing 3-6 road trip.
The big inning began innocently enough, with a ground single to right by Varitek.
"I think that was a relief," said Varitek, who added a solo homer in the eighth. "It was just a seeing-eye single, but when it went through, it was like, 'Phew.' "
A wall-scraping, run-scoring single by Brian Daubach, a single to right by Trot Nixon and a walk to Jose Offerman filled the bases for a bases-loaded triple by Johnny Damon. Damon slashed the ball into the right-field corner and sped around the bases, pushing the baserunners ahead of him.
"I was looking for a pitch down," recalled Damon. "I was thinking triple out of the box."
A walk and a stolen base by Carlos Baerga, a sacrifice fly from Nomar Garciaparra and Manny Ramirez's first RBI since last month capped the inning. The Red Sox were on their way out of the slump that had seen them score just 14 runs in their last four losses.
The six runs scored in the fifth, in fact, were as many as the Sox had managed in an entire game since they posted seven runs in a June 12 win over Colorado. The inning may be looked back upon as the one that got the Sox headed in the right direction again.
"We hope so," said Damon. "We got some great production tonight from a lot of guys."
"We've been looking for it for a little while now," said Little of the offensive breakout. "But it was a good thing to see out there tonight. I think that's what we all look forward to when you've been in a funk like we've been in. Hopefully, we can carry that into tomorrow."
Daubach had been hitless in his previous 16 at-bats, 10 of which resulted in strikeouts. Nixon, meanwhile, continued to wield a hot bat and collected three hits, matching a season high set three times previously. With 13 hits in his last 31 at-bats (.419), Nixon has his average up to a more-respectable .255.
"We need to get those guys going," Damon said, "because it can't be Nomar or me carrying the club every night."
Martinez, given the sudden run support, then shut down the Indians the rest of the way. The four Cleveland runs came all on homers, with Ellis Burks clubbing a two-run shot into the screen in the first and Jim Thome adding his second homer at Fenway in as many nights, in the fourth. Ben Broussard hit his first major-league homer leading off the fifth.
After Broussard's homer, Martinez retired nine of the last 10 hitters he faced.
"I left a couple of pitches up early in the game and they took advantage of it," said Martinez in reference to the gopher balls. "But everything else was fine. Thank God my teammates battled back and I was able to hold them for a little while."
The three homers were the most allowed in a start by Martinez since he gave up a trio of home runs to Toronto almost two years ago to the day -- June 25, 2000. After a stretch that saw him go four games without a win, Martinez, 9-2, now has won consecutive starts and struck out 20 while walking just one in his last 17 innings.
He got relief help from Tim Wakefield, who struck out the side in the eighth, and closer Ugueth Urbina, who put the first runners on in the ninth but slammed the door with a deep flyout and a game-ending double play for his 21st save of the season.
