BoSox Barrage Bombs Angels

The Boston Red Sox hit so well that even their outs were productive.

Nomar Garciaparra had three hits and Brian Daubach went 3-for-6 with three runs and a solo homer as the Red Sox beat the Anaheim Angels 14-3 Saturday.

Garciaparra, coming off two hitless games, scored two runs and raised his average to a league-leading .363.

"It was great, the way we manufactured runs early on," Garciaparra said. "We did the little things to get us going."

"The best thing about the offense today was that we scored runs with some productive outs," manager Jimy Williams said. "We forgot about averages, and tried to score runs."

Soon enough, though, the hit parade began and the averages did all right, too.

Jose Offerman went 3-for-5 with three RBIs. All 10 Boston players who batted either scored or drove in a run as the Red Sox had 19 hits.

"We've got to get good pitching, timely hitting and solid defense," Garciaparra said. "Today, we did all of it."

Pat Rapp (4-5) was the recipient of the offensive support. He allowed six hits in seven innings to win foonly the second time in eight starts since May 21.

"With all the runs, I just wanted to throw strikes, not walk anyone," said Rapp, who issued his only walk in the seventh. "We had a couple of long scoring innings, and it can be tough to go out there after 30-40 minutes sitting in the dugout."

"But I was able to find it, bounce back after falling behind some hitters."

Taking advantage of sloppy defense and a rusty Tim Belcher (5-7), making his first start after six weeks on the disabled list Boston jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the third inning.

Daubach's run-scoring grounder made it 1-0 in the first, and Trot Nixon's RBI double and Offerman's run-scoring grounder made it 3-0 in the second.

The Red Sox broke open the game with a four-run third featuring Offerman's two-run infield single. With the bases loaded and two outs, Offerman hit a routine grounder to shortstop Gary DiSarcina who already had two errors and his throw to first was late, as Reggie Jefferson scored from third and Jason Varitek from second.

Troy O'Leary's sacrifice fly and Jefferson's RBI single had driven in the first two runs of the inning.

Orlando Palmeiro's RBI single in the bottom of the third got the Angels on the board, before the Red Sox made it 9-1 in the fifth on a two-run single by John Valentin off reliever Mike Fyhrie.

Belcher, who had been on the DL since June 27 with a fractured right little finger, was charged with seven hits and seven runs, five earned, in 2 1-3 innings.

"Actually, I felt pretty good about my stuff," said Belcher. "I might have been more rusty with location. But it's understandable that you're going to lose your edge being out six weeks."

Red Sox made it 13-1 in the eighth inning against reliever Mike Holtz on a three-run double by pinch-hitter Butch Huskey and Varitek's RBI double.

Tim Salmon hit a two-run homer off John Wasdi in the eighth, his first in 87 at-bats. Salmon had not homered since April 27, a week before he sprained his left wrist and went on the DL for 10 weeks.

Notes