J.D. Drew follows the flight of his two-run double in the seventh inning last night that gave the Red Sox a 2-1 lead over the White Sox.

AP / Charles Rex Arbogast

CHICAGO — For more than six innings, there were no hits on the scoreboard. But in the dugout, the Red Sox had two other things going for them: the energy of their bench and the knowledge that Josh Beckett was on the mound.

Chicago White Sox lefty Jon Danks had retired the first 17 Red Sox hitters he faced, but the Sox were almost strangely confident.

“We had nothing,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona, “but everybody stayed at it.”

Finally, their faith was rewarded. Kevin Youkilis snapped the no-hit bid, and following a walk to Mike Lowell, J.D. Drew stroked a two-run double to the gap in left-center. Three more runs in the ninth provided some padding for a 5-1 comeback win.

“It was just a matter of time before we broke through,” said Drew, getting a rare start at DH with David Ortiz having been given the night off. “But you’re never sure. You just try to grind out at-bats. But even if you square it up, they don’t always fall for hits. I felt as though we had hit the ball good, but we didn’t have anything to show for it.”

Jed Lowrie added a two-run double of his own in the ninth and Jacoby Ellsbury (two more hits, giving him 11 in his last six games) produced an RBI-single.

The win gave the Sox a split of the series with the White Sox and sent them home with a winning record (4-3) on their seven-game trek. Not since mid-April did the Red Sox have a winning road trip against American League teams.

“We needed this one,” said Dustin Pedroia, who was held hitless in four at-bats and has his 29-game road hitting streak snapped. “We wanted to end this trip on a good note and go home with some momentum.”

Beckett turned in his third quality starts in his last four outings, limiting the White Sox to a single run on seven hits. He yielded a run on two singles and a sacrifice fly in the second, but otherwise throttled the White Sox offense.

“We could hang our hat on the fact that it was (just) 1-0 and not 4-0,” said Francona. “He kept us in there.”

“Anytime you hold a team like that to a run,” said Beckett, who improved to 11-8 with a 3.92 ERA, “with a lineup like ours, you’ve got to like our chances. I was pretty focused, going pitch to pitch and not getting too ahead of myself.

Beckett struck out eight and didn’t allow a walk. In three of his last starts, Beckett has yielded two runs or fewer and is throwing his best with seven weeks to go in the season.

“I think he’s got a lot left in the tank,” said Francona, “for what we have left and we will need him (to accomplish what we want). He looks primed.”

“He was clean with his delivery today,” said catcher Jason Varitek. “The balls were going where he wanted them to. (At points during the season) he’s been off, just by a lock, and he’s had some real hard luck where we haven’t scored runs for him. But today he was really good.”

“He’s throwing the ball good,” echoed Pedroia, “and when he’s on, there’s nobody better.”

For the first six innings, there was no one better than Danks. He routinely overmatched the Sox, striking out at least one hitter in every inning except the third. In first, fourth and fifth, he posted two strikeouts each.

His bid for a perfect game ended with two out in the sixth when he ran a pitch in to Ellsbury and plunked him on the backside. But it was seventh in which he came apart.

Youkilis got a broken bat single with one out in the seventh, ending the no-hitter effort. After Lowell’s walk, Drew drove a pitch to the wall in left-center. Danks stranded Drew at second, but didn’t return for the eighth.

Meanwhile, the Sox went to work against the White Sox bullpen in the ninth. A leadoff walk by Lowell, a single by Jason Bay and an infield single by Drew loaded the bases and Lowrie nearly emptied the bases with a double down the left field line.

Lowell and Bay scored with ease, but Drew was tagged out as A.J. Pierzynski nicely blocked his path to the plate. The double gave Lowrie 13 RBI in his last 10 games.

After Lowrie moved up to third on a flyout to center, he trotted home on Ellsbury’s single.

smcadam@projo.com