OAKLAND -- In an all-out assault on Oakland pitching, the Red Sox last night banged out a season-high 18 hits and totaled more than a dozen runs. Remarkably, this was done with almost no input from David Ortiz.

Six different Red Sox hitters collected at least one RBI, but Ortiz, the major league leader with 95, wasn't among them as the Sox rolled to a 13-5 victory. In three victories on their current West Coast trip, the Sox have accumulated 29 runs, or just shy of 10 per victory.

The big producers last night were Manny Ramirez (two hits, three RBI, one homer), Trot Nixon (homer, two RBI) and Jason Varitek (bases-loaded double). Nixon's homer was his first since June 9, spanning a gaping 123 at-bats.

The Sox also produced four sacrifice flies -- one each from Nixon, Ramirez, Alex Gonzalez and Mike Lowell.

"It was a weird game," said manager Terry Francona. "We got up early, then looked like we were going to hang on for dear life."

But a six-run eighth pried the game open for the Sox, who beat up the A's bullpen.

Curt Schilling picked up the win to join teammate Josh Beckett and Toronto's Roy Halliday as baseball's only 13-game winners. He pitched six innings and gave up four runs, but benefited from solid backing.

"We're 17-5 in my 22 starts and Im proud of that," Schilling said. "There are nights like this when it's more offense than you, but you take them anyway you can get them."

Schilling seemed to hit a wall in the fifth, when the A's erupted for three runs to crawl back into the game.

With one out, he invited trouble by walking No. 9 hitter Mark Ellis.

"That's always a tone-setter for me," lamented Schilling.

Singles by Jason Kendall and Mark Kotsay followed, loading the bases for Oakland.

Schilling conceded a run when Milton Bradley hit a tapper back to the box, throwing to first as Ellis crossed the plate and the other two baserunners moved up.

Schilling then left a 1-and-1 pitch up, and Frank Thomas lined it into right field, scoring two more. But Schilling overpowered Nick Swisher to strand Thomas and preserve the lead.

Manny Delcarmen took over in the seventh, with the Sox clinging to a 6-4 lead, and promptly yielded three straight singles as the A's narrowed the lead to a run.

But with the potential go-ahead run at first, Delcarmen subdued the middle of the A's order, getting Bradley to fly out to left before fanning both Thomas and Swisher.

The bust-out eighth, highlighted by Varitek's bases-clearing double to center, put the game away for good.

While Schilling cruised through the early innings, the Red Sox built a lead.

Ramirez, who has been nearly unstoppable on the road trip, drilled a long homer into the seats in left for his third homer in the last five games, and his second in as many nights. It was the 463rd home run of his career, tying him with Jim Thome for 27th all-time, and his 38th homer against the A's, tying him him among active players with Alex Rodriguez.

If Ramirez's power display was predictable given his hot streak, Nixon's was somewhat shocking. He drove a fastball out to right for his first homer in 123 at-bats, a period that spanned more than six weeks.

It was Nixon's first extra-base hit this month.

"It's not so much the homer (that I'm happy with)," said Nixon, "as much as having good swings. I've been trying to be more aggressive at the plate and take good, solid swings. I was just fortunate to get that pitch and put the bat on it."

Later that inning, singles by Lowell and Crisp -- though they failed to produce any more runs -- were enough to chase rookie starter Jason Windsor, who was making his second major league start.

Leading 4-1 in the fourth, the Sox continued to pile on against the Oakland bullpen.

Kevin Youkilis (walk) and Mark Loretta (single) gave the Sox runners at the corners with no out in the fourth, and Ramirez produced a run with a sacrifice fly that nearly carried to the warning track in center.

A fifth-inning leadoff double by Lowell helped deliver the Sox' sixth run. Lowell advanced to third when Coco Crisp hit a grounder to the right side of the infield, then scored on a sacrifice fly -- the Sox' third of the night -- by Gonzalez.

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