BALTIMORE — The Red Sox played two completely different games against the Orioles Tuesday night.

In the first, John Smoltz pitched exactly as the Sox hoped he would when they signed him and was backed by an unrelenting offense that built a nine-run lead through 6 1/2 innings.

In the second, the Boston bullpen -- the strength of the team through the first half of the season -- had a monumental collapse, allowing 10 runs and 13 hits in Baltimore's final two at-bats. No reliever was immune, starting with Justin Masterson and running through Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima, Takashi Saito and, finally, closer Jonathan Papelbon.

It added up to a crushing 11-10 defeat at the hands of the Orioles. It was the greatest comeback in Oriole history, and the first time the Red Sox lost a game in which they held a lead of nine or more runs since June 4, 1989, when they blew a 10-0 lead to Toronto at Fenway Park.

"We just had no answer. We went through just about everybody," said manager Terry Francona. "There were balls [hit] everywhere. When you give up 13 hits, that was as bad as we've seen."

Tuesday's game was halted prior to the bottom of the fifth inning due to rain with the Red Sox holding a 9-1 lead. But when the game resumed 1 hour and 11 mintues later, the Sox' bullpen couldn't keep the Orioles at bay.

"There are games during the year that you chalk up to a fluke," said John Smoltz, who pitched four strong innings before the rains and was in position to post his first Red Sox victory. "Our bullpen is outstanding. You give credit where credit is due, and Baltimore took advantage of every opportunity.

"This one will sting a little bit, but when you have Josh Beckett going on the mound [Wednesday], he'll erase that. This is just one of those games you shake your head because you can't believe what you just saw."

"It kind of happened real fast," said second baseman Dustin Pedroia. "Seemed like the first five innings before the rain delay, we beat up on them pretty good. When we came back they beat up on us pretty good. It was a weird game and a terrible loss for us. Being up 10-1, it's upsetting."

Masterson was perfect in the fifth and sixth innings, retiring the first six batters he faced. In the seventh, however, the right-handed reliever surrendered five runs on five hits as the Orioles began to mount their comeback.

"I just missed my spots on four pitches and they stuck them well," he said. "They took some good swings and put some balls in play."

Masterson wasn't ready to throw his bullpen mates under the bus.

"There were a lot of broken bat and dink singles here and there," he pointed out. "They were able to put them together and get some runs. I don't think [any Red Sox reliever] in particular did real terrible."

Francona he wanted Masterson to get to the top of the Orioles order in the seventh, at which point he would bring in Okajima to face Baltimore's left-handed hitters, Nick Markakis and Aubrey Huff. When Masterson couldn't, Francona sandwiched Manny Delcarmen in for two-thirds of an inning before bringing in Okajima.

Okajima got the final out of the seventh, preserving Boston's lead at 10-6, but gaveup four runs on five hits in a third of an inning in the eighth. Saito put the winning run on base and Papelbon allowed it to score, giving up a two-out, two-run double to Markakis that gave the Orioles an 11-10 lead.

"Nothing we did worked," Francona said.

"It was a tough night all around for us from top to bottom in the bullpen," said Papelbon. "Dealing with the weather, trying to pick each other up and nobody came into an easy situation. You have to give that team over there credit, though. They put the pressure on our bullpen tonight. We pretty much imploded. I can't think of any better word to use."

But Papelbon's not worried this loss will linger.

"These types of situations our bullpen went through tonight won't happen very often. We tried to battle through it. It wasn't our night. The good thing is, the group of guys we have in the bullpen all can take this pretty well and understand this is going to happen, but not very often. We'll move on. We're all professionals down there and you won't see anyone hanging their head tomorrow, that's for sure."

jmcdonal@projo.com