Boston’s Dustin Pedroia rounds third to score the first run of the game on a hit by J.D. Drew in the first inning of yesterday’s game.

The Providence Journal Gretchen Ertl

BOSTON — In order for the Red Sox to be successful in the second half of the season — and into the postseason — the bullpen will have to be consistent.

Of course that’s stating the obvious, but the fact remains that Boston’s bullpen needs to be more effective in the next 2½ months in order for the club to once again achieve October glory.

The way the bullpen worked yesterday in the Sox’ 2-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in the first-half finale at Fenway Park could be a good starting point.

After Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka improved to 10-1 this season, working six scoreless innings in which he allowed only four hits in helping the Sox regain the top spot in the A.L. East, Boston’s bullpen was key.

Relievers Hideki Okajima and Manny Delcarmen, along with closer Jonathan Papelbon, finished off the Orioles. Sure, the next 65 games won’t always work out as perfectly as it did yesterday, but consistency needs to be a major factor.

“You can take it a step further with your pitching in general,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. “You certainly need to score runs, but it starts and ends with your pitching. We gave ourselves a chance to win today and we gave up only one run. I know we dodged some obstacles along the way, but because we made pitches, we ended up allowing only one run.”

Those obstacles Francona referred to were a two-out, two-on situation in the third inning, a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning and another two-out, two-on in the seventh before Papelbon allowed the only run in the top of the ninth. The Sox’ closer recorded his 28th save of the season — and 100th of his career — but still allowed one run on three hits.

After the game, Papelbon talked about the importance of the bullpen in the second half, and what the first half of the season has been like for the relievers.

“Obviously the grind this year is a lot tougher,” he said. “It’s always tough to go out there and win a championship back-to-back, the grind has been a little different this year. We went through a long season last year and hopefully this year we can stay healthy. If we can stay healthy, we should be able to be back there.”

The Orioles were threatening in the seventh inning after they drew a pair of walks off Okajima. With two outs, Delcarmen was brought it to stifle the attack. The hard-throwing right-hander got the O’s Melvin Mora to ground out to third to end the inning. In the eighth, Delcarmen worked a perfect 1-2-3 inning and ended his outing by striking out pinch-hitter Ramon Hernandez with a 97-mph fastball.

“The game was on the line in the seventh and then he went out and had a really good eighth,” Francona said. “Part of it was Daisuke getting through the sixth, which allowed us to do something like that. If he came out after five, then we’re trying to stretch [further] than we need to. More often than not, we’ve seen it fall apart.”

It didn’t yesterday.

“I can definitely use these next four days off,” Delcarmen said. “I think I threw the ball well [in the first half] and it’ll be good to get a couple of days off because guys have been throwing a lot.”

The Sox’ bullpen finally has its ERA below 4.00 and is 10th in the A.L. in that category. The relievers have allowed one or fewer runs in 16 of the last 20 games, but the bullpen has lost 16 decisions this season, which is two more than all of last year.

That trend can’t continue if the Red Sox want to succeed in October again. Delcarmen and Okajima will need to be a big part of that success, and don’t be surprised if GM Theo Epstein attempts to bolster the bullpen via trade before the deadline at the end of the month to help out the likes of Craig Hansen, David Aardsma, Javier Lopez and Mike Timlin.

With yesterday’s win, the Red Sox are now a half game up on the Tampa Bay Rays and are sitting in first place in the division. Part of that has to do with the bullpen’s performance yesterday.

“Guys have been coming out and going to work each day,” Papelbon said. “That’s the approach we’re taking, and sure enough, at the major-league break, we have regained first place and it feels good.”

jmcdonal@projo.com