BOSTON -- Dustin Pedroia took another 0-fer Sunday. He went 0-for-3, extending his skid to 10-for-70 (.143) and dropping his average from .307 to .263.

But his third-inning at-bat, in which Pedroia ultimately drew a walk, may have been the pivotal at-bat of the game.

Pedroia was up with two outs, runners at first and second and the Sox trailing, 1-0. He took a 2-and-2 fastball from Erik Bedard that appeared to be right down the middle, about belt-high. TV made it look like strike three and and Bedard even took a step or two off the mound, convinced he had gotten out of the jam with a strikeout. Plate umpire CB Bucknor, though, called it a ball

So Bedard kept pitching. And Pedroia kept fouling off pitches. On the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Pedroia drew a walk, loading the bases for the red-hot J.D. Drew. Bedard got ahead of Drew at 1-and-2 but then hit him on the right wrist with a pitch, forcing in the tying run.

Bedard finally got out of the inning by striking out Manny Ramirez on a full-count breaking ball in the dirt. But, after the 2-and-2 offering to Pedroia that was called a ball, he threw 15 extra pitches on a sweltering, 98-degree day.

Pedroia also extended Bedard in a 10-pitch at-bat in the fifth, ending it by grounding out to third.

All that exertion forced Bedard, the Mariners’ high-priced left-handed ace, out of the game after only five innings. He threw 99 pitches, 23 of which were thrown to Pedroia in three at-bats. Sean Green replaced Bedard, and Drew, the first batter he faced, crushed a homer to dead center that proved to be the difference in the 2-1 win.