BALTIMORE — It’s been an interesting couple of weeks for the Boston Red Sox.

The club has participated in a no-hitter. It had an amazing 7-0 homestand. It struggled during the first half of this road trip, posting a 1-6 record in Oakland and Seattle before arriving here. Manny Ramirez finally reached his milestone of 500 career home runs. And they won the first two games of this four-game set.

Yesterday, it was back to normal.

Boston did it all yesterday, receiving a solid starting performance — again — from Bartolo Colon and the club executed perfectly both in the field and at the plate. The end result was a 9-4 victory over the Orioles at Camden Yards as the Red Sox will go for a sweep of the series tonight.

Colon improved to 3-0 since joining the rotation on May 21 with a six-inning performance where he allowed four runs on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Because he surrendered the four runs, he needed support at the plate. He got it.

Manny Ramirez continues his surge with three RBI, including a double and two-run homer. J.D. Drew was back in the lineup after missing a couple of games with a bout of vertigo and contributed three RBI, including a solo homer. Mike Lowell provided a solo homer, too, as Boston banged out a total of 16 hits.

Then there was the defense.

The Sox continually flashed the leather, especially second baseman Dustin Pedroia, shortstop Julio Lugo (Yes. That Julio Lugo) and Drew in right field. The biggest plays of the game for Boston came in the seventh inning with the Sox leading, 9-3. Baltimore had two runners on when the Orioles’ Nick Markakis hit a hard chopper up the middle. Ranging to his left, Lugo snared the ball behind the bag and made a quick flip to Pedroia, who was able to get the throw off in time for the double play.

Drew ended the inning with a spectacular diving catch that robbed the Orioles’ Luke Scott of a hit and possibly extra bases.

There is just so much to talk about yesterday’s victory.

“You have to start with Colon,” said bench coach Brad Mills, who was filling in for Terry Francona as the manager was back in Boston to attend his daughter Leah’s graduation from Brookline High School. “He really did a good job for us. He kept us in there. He got a little tired in the end, but at the same time we might have tried to squeeze a couple of outs out of him because of a short bullpen. He did an outstanding job.”

The all-around effort didn’t stop there as the taxed bullpen held the Orioles to zeros in the final three innings. Javier Lopez, Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarmen kept the opposition at bay the rest of the way.

“Pitching is tough enough,” said Pedroia. “Anytime a ball is hit to you, you try to make a play on it. I was fortunate enough to get a couple. On that double play, Lugo made a nice play and was able to get me the ball. It was a good day. We pitched, played good ‘D’ and swung the bats real good, so it all just clicked for us.”

Boston quickly jumped all over Baltimore starter Brian Burres, scoring a run in the second, three in the third and three in the fourth. Ramirez and Lowell hit back-to-back homers in the fourth inning. It was the fifth time this season, and second time in as many days, the Red Sox have accomplished that.

Boston needed just two more runs in the seventh to call it a day. Along the way, the defense really stood out yesterday.

“You can never take defense for granted,” said Drew, who hit his solo shot in the seventh inning. “You can control that because you can hustle and try to make the play. Petey plays as good a second base that I have ever seen. I was able to throw a couple of pays in there, so it all worked out good.”

With the way the clubhouse was so subdued after yesterday’s victory, no one would be able to tell exactly what the Red Sox have been through in the last couple of week. And, it’s only the beginning of June.

jmcdonal@projo.com