BOSTON — The Red Sox dusted off the record books, opened them up and inserted a few new passages to their already storied history.

In the bottom of the third inning, Boston recorded four consecutive home runs for the first time in team history as Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek all hit solo shots off New York Yankees starter Chase Wright. Ramirez crushed a 2-1 offering to left-center field; Drew followed and deposited a 1-2 delivery to right field; Lowell exploded on a 1-1 pitch and lined it into the Coke bottle above the Monster before Varitek finished off a 1-0 offering into the Monster seats.

Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein could be seen on the game telecast, saying “Oh my God!”

It was the 10th time in team history the club slugged four round-trippers in an inning, the last coming in July 2002 against the Tampa Bay Devils Rays. It was only the fifth time in major-league history the feat has been accomplished in succession. The last team to hit four in a row was the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sept. 18, 2006 against the San Diego Padres.

Interestingly enough, Drew was one of the Dodger hitters to belt a homer and now he’s been a part of it twice.

“Tonight was a little bit of a different situation,” said Drew. “It’s always fun to see and it gave our team a chance to get back into the ballgame. What do you say? You can’t explain it. You just got four good at-bats from guys who squared the ball up and hit it out of the park. It’s just a really cool experience.

“I knew I was a part of it last year, but I didn’t know how many times it has happened,” added Drew. “Last year was a completely different circumstance in the bottom of the ninth when you’re trying to rally. We faced three different pitchers in the process. Tonight, when you’re down you want to give your pitchers some runs to work with and see what happens. To see ‘Tek’ come up and hit that fourth one was pretty cool.”

The Milwaukee Braves did it against the Cincinnati Reds in June of 1961. On July 31, 1963, the Cleveland Indians hit four in a row against the Los Angeles Angels. Red Sox manager Terry Francona’s father, Tito, hit one of the homers for the Indians.

“I saw them put his name up on the scoreboard and I was proud,” said Francona.

The Minnesota Twins also accomplished the feat against the Kansas City Athletics on May 2, 1964. Last night was Boston’s turn.

“I was happy Manny hit the ball. He took a good swing,” said Lowell, who added his second homer of the game in the seventh inning. “J.D crushed one and I just wanted to hit it hard and keep the momentum going. I got a hold of one and the dugout went crazy. That was cool. Then ‘Tek’ hit one to put us ahead.”

It only took eight pitches for the Sox to accumulate the four homers.

“Man, I couldn’t believe it,” said Red Sox rookie second baseman Dustin Pedroia. “Every time the ball was hit, it sounded really well [struck]. I was like ‘Dang, is this really happening?’ It was crazy, but it definitely boosted our team.”

“It happened quickly,” said Yankee manager Joe Torre. “It’s just another piece of experience for (Wright). I still think he’s going to be special. It’s just one of those things he’s going to have to deal with. … It’s baseball. It’s liable to happen. It’s part of what you deal with with this team. Nothing should surprise you coming in here.”

mcdonal@projo.com