BOSTON — The last time the Red Sox hosted the Colorado Rockies before Tuesday night, Boston won the first two games of the 2007 World Series by scores of 13-1 and 2-1 before going on to a sweep.
Tuesday night was more of the same.
Dustin Pedroia had RBI hits in each of the first three innings and added a sacrifice fly in the seventh, and Ryan Dempster worked six solid frames to lead Boston to an 11-4 rout in the opener of a two-game interleague series.
“It’s just a good win for us,” said Dempster, who has been a victim of non-support many times this season but got plenty Tuesday. “We just came off a really tough series in Detroit. We could have won three of four and we didn’t, we lost three of four, and we bounced right back tonight against a really good team.
“A huge performance by our offense. Everybody got involved. … That was a lot of fun tonight, to see us go out there and score runs.”
Daniel Nava, Jose Iglesias (hitting .434 over 113 at-bats) and Jacoby Ellsbury all also had three hits as the first-place Red Sox stroked five doubles and a triple. The Red Sox knocked out Juan Nicasio (4-4) in just 2 1/3 innings, after he allowed seven runs (six earned).
Boston finished with a season-high 20 hits, everyone in the lineup with at least one.
“It’s a good-hitting club,” Colorado manager Walt Weiss said. “You’ve really got to command your stuff with that lineup or they make you pay.”
Dempster (5-8) made his 10th quality start, tied for the team lead, and his sixth in a row. He had received two runs or fewer of support in eight of his 15 starts, but that wasn’t the case in this game. He gave up a solo homer to Wilin Rosario (No. 12, one of his three hits) in the second and an RBI single to Nolan Arenado (three hits) in the fourth.
However, what happened in the first inning set up Dempster’s night. With first and second and nobody out, he got National League home run leader Carlos Gonzalez to pop up on a 2-0 pitch and then got Michael Cuddyer, he of the 22-game hitting streak (extended with two later hits) to ground into a double play.
“I thought the key was in the first inning,” Boston manager John Farrell said. “Those two guys came in red hot, and he gets a popup on a 2-0 pitch and then second pitch he gets a ground-ball double play and gets out of it.
“While he might not have been his most sharp tonight, still, six quality innings of work and he had a number of runs to work with.”
Dempster came in with a 6.96 career ERA against Colorado, his high against any team, but he improved to 5-1 against the Rockies away from Coors Field.
Arenado scored from first on Shane Victorino’s three-base error in the seventh, before Gonzalez’s two-out RBI single greeted reliever Craig Breslow.
The Rockies, who saw a two-game winning streak stopped and suffered their sixth loss in the last eight games, went 2-1 in a three-game series against the Red Sox in Denver in 2010.
Nicasio, 0-3 in seven starts since May 19, labored through 64 pitches in the first two innings as the Red Sox, unable to hit with runners in scoring position over the weekend, came through.
“He looked like he struggled to find any rhythm or tempo tonight,” Weiss said. “He was in bad counts, and that’s a tough lineup to get through when you’re in bad counts.”
Boston was 3-for-24 with runners in scoring position in the last two games of the Detroit series, but those troubles disappeared early as the Sox went 7-for-10 in those situations over the first three innings. They finished 9-for-20 with men on second, third or both.
Boston made three errors, including Victorino’s, as he dropped a drive and then banged his head into the right field fence.
“Another wall, another day,” Farrell said of Victorino, who stayed in the game. “It’s not that he suffered a gash, but it hit him in a tough spot right above the ear … It seems like he’s finding a wall on a daily basis.”
NOTES: Dempster is 4-0 in five starts when getting at least four runs of support. … Boston SS Stephen Drew hit a drive that bounced on the top of the center field wall that was ruled in play in the fourth, Drew reaching third. The umpires reviewed it, but they kept the call, and Drew may have lost a homer. … Cuddyer’s hitting streak is a career high and is tied for the second-longest streak in club history. Hitting coach Dante Bichette holds the record of 23. Cuddyer has also reached in 41 straight games, a Rockies single-season record. … The Sox sent slumping 3B Will Middlebrooks to Triple-A Pawtucket, placed LHP Franklin Morales (pectoral muscle) on the 15-day disabled list and moved C David Ross (concussion) from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL. The Ross move opened a 40-man roster spot, and INF Brandon Snyder was added from Pawtucket. RHP Pedro Beato, sent out over the weekend, was called back to replace Morales, and he pitched a scoreless ninth. … Rockies RHPs Rafael Betancourt (groin) and Edgmer Escalona (elbow), both on the DL, each throw 37 pitches of live batting practice. Betancourt is expected to return to his closer role Friday. Escalona appears headed for rehab work. … Boston RHP Clay Buchholz, also on the DL (neck), hopes to make a rehab start either Sunday or Monday. … RHP Roy Oswalt, who struck out 11 in his first start with the Rockies, faces RHP John Lackey (4-5) on Wednesday. It will be Oswalt’s first career start against Boston. … The teams meet again in Denver on Sept. 24 and 25.