01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, April 18, 2006

BOSTON -- Seattle pitcher Gil Meche was outsmarted by David Ortiz in the first inning, leading to Ortiz's fifth homer of the year, a solo shot.

Meche won the battle with Ortiz in the third, striking him out. But Ortiz got the better of Meche in the sixth, as he launched a game-tying two-run homer.

In the first, with the count 3-and-1 and Ortiz looking for a fastball, Meche fed the Red Sox designated hitter a changeup. Ortiz was fooled, swinging and missing, way out in front of the pitch.

That made the count full. Meche and catcher Kenji Johjima thought Ortiz was set up for a fastball. Wrong. Meche threw a 92-mile-an-hour heater, and Ortiz lashed it to center, the ball just clearing the wall and clanging off the TV camera platform to the right of the 379-foot marker.

In their second confrontation, the count went full again. Meche shook off a sign and threw a changeup, which Ortiz fouled. Meche then threw a curveball, and Ortiz fouled that, too. Meche didn't still feel the need to give in and throw a fastball -- the bases were empty and there were two outs.

So he threw another changeup, down and away. Ortiz went fishing for it for a strikeout.

Then, in the sixth, with a runner at first and one out and Seattle ahead, 4-2, they faced each other again.

Meche threw two changeups down and away, both for strikes, one of which Ortiz waved at and missed. Meche's next pitch was a fastball away for a ball. Meche and Johjima then decided it was time to come inside with a fastball, now that Ortiz seemingly was looking away.

But Ortiz reacts well to fastballs inside. He turned on the 91-mile-an-hour pitch and crushed it over the visitors' bullpen, tying the game at 4-4.

Meche, clearly, has run out of ways to try to get Ortiz out. In 12 career at-bats, Ortiz has four homers against Meche.

"They were pitching me backwards, throwing me offspeed pitches and then trying to surprise me with the fastball. That's what happened on both home runs," said Ortiz. "They pitched me tough, but you get an opportunity to drive one, you've got to do it because you don't know if you're going to get another one."

The value of hustle Hopefully, Wily Mo Pena was paying attention when Kevin Youkilis ran hard out of the batter's box and beat a throw to first by an eyelash, setting the stage for Mark Loretta's game-winning homer.

"When I saw he could make a good play on the ball, I put my head down and ran as fast as I could. If you try to track the ball, it might slow you down," said Youkilis of his two-out ninth-inning infield hit.

Such effort is always respected by teammates.

"Way to hustle, bro," Ortiz said to Youkilis.

"That shows you something about Youkilis," added reliever Mike Timlin. "You run them all out because you never know what's going to happen."

One day earlier, Pena didn't run hard on a grounder until seeing it bobbled and was thrown out by a half-step.

A lost art Despite getting off to a slow start this season, Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki has considerable baseball skills, notably speed, great hand-eye coordination and a strong throwing arm.

But he also knows how to slide, a lost art.

In the first inning, perched at third base, Ichiro tagged up and raced home on Raul Ibanez's shallow fly ball to left field. As the throw from Manny Ramirez sailed toward the plate, catcher Jason Varitek, as is his custom, stuck out his left leg, blocking access to the front corner of the plate.

Ichiro, though, slid wide of the plate, avoiding Varitek's leg as Varitek caught the ball. As the Mariner outfielder continued sliding past the plate, he adeptly reached out with his left hand and tapped home plate for the run.

A lesson for all Alex Cora, in his second start of the year at shortstop, made a heads-up play in the second that helped starter Lenny DiNardo out of a jam.

With Yuniesky Betancourt at second base and two outs, Ichiro scorched a short-hopper right at Cora. Betancourt's secondary lead took his a few steps toward third. Cora, who had gone to his knees to make the stop, knew he'd have a tough time getting up and throwing out the speedy Ichiro at first, so he threw to third baseman Mike Lowell, catching Betancourt in a rundown.

Eventually Cora made the tag on Betancourt, ending the inning.

Cora was just as heads-up running the bases in the bottom of the inning, turning an RBI ground single to center into a double when he noticed no one was covering second base, making it in safely with a head-first slide.

skrasner@projo.com / (401) 277-7340