With Beckett, Sox A-OK

The wager with Josh Beckett was made in spring training, when Jonathan Papelbon thought he was still part of the starting rotation.

"We had bets, when interleague came around, on who would hit more home runs, who would have a better average," Papelbon said after last night's 6-4 Red Sox win over the Oakland Athletics. "Then yesterday he goes, 'I just realized our bets are off.' I go, 'Yeah, I know, I can't take your money anymore.' "

With Papelbon now closing, there's little chance anyone will see him with a bat in his hands. It didn't happen in the eight interleague games in which he pitched last season, and there's no reason to believe Terry Francona wants to see him at the plate this season, either.

But maybe it's just as well for Papelbon that the wager fell through. On the mound, Beckett's start has inspired mention of Babe Ruth, the pitcher, and as hot as Beckett is, he just might start swinging like the Babe, too.

Beckett reeled off his sixth straight win last night, becoming the first Sox pitcher since Roger Clemens in 1991 to do so and drawing within two of a club record shared by Ruth, among others. "I'm still kind of unaware of how great a pitcher he was," Beckett said of the Babe. "But any time you're mentioned in the same point as Babe Ruth, when you didn't give up one of his milestone home runs, it's obviously a tremendous feat."

The Sox, with Papelbon sitting out after he'd sustained his first blown save, came away with a split of this brief series with the Athletics, who lost more than a ballgame last night. New designated hitter Mike Piazza, imported to replace strongman Frank Thomas, sustained a sprained right AC joint in his right shoulder in a collision with Sox third baseman Mike Lowell. Piazza was hurt when Lowell, after fielding a ball a few feet behind the bag, decided his best shot to get Piazza at third was to tag him, rather than the bag, diving into Piazza with his glove as Piazza dived headfirst into the bag.

That play ended the top of the sixth, after the Athletics had overcome an early 2-0 deficit against Beckett to take the lead on three singles, the last by Dan Johnson, after Jason Kendall had tied the score with a two-run single in the fifth. Piazza left the game and will be out four to six weeks, according to Oakland manager Bob Geren, a big blow to a team already missing starting outfielders Milton Bradley and Mark Kotsay.

"I asked him, 'Are you OK?' and I heard him say, 'My arm, my arm' " Lowell said. "I was like, 'Let me just get out of here.' What am I going to do, hug him?"

Lowell called the visitors' clubhouse later to check on Piazza, who said he appreciated the gesture. No one in the Sox' clubhouse placed a call to Athletics center fielder Ryan Langerhans, who muffed Coco Crisp's liner in the fourth that led to one run and was traded after the game to the Washington Nationals for Chris Snelling, just three days after the Athletics had acquired him from the Braves.

A's officials said the timing of the deal was only coincidental. The Nationals had been after Langerhans earlier but the Braves wouldn't trade him within the division (National League East), while Oakland general manager Billy Beane has long had interest in Snelling. Besides, if Beane had dealt every Athletics player guilty of lousy fielding, there would have been a few empty lockers.

Kendall, the catcher, was charged with an error when he failed to throw out Lowell after he'd been hung up between first and second on a pitchout in the seventh. Lowell arrived at second safely, and scored when Alex Cora, once again in the middle of winning time, lined a single off former Sox reliever Alan Embree to give Boston a 5-3 lead. An inning earlier, Cora's infield out and a sacrifice fly by Julio Lugo brought home Jason Varitek (single) and Crisp (gift double that bounced over the head of third baseman Eric Chavez).

In the ninth, it was right fielder Dan Putnam's turn to commit a costly mistake, charging a single by J.D. Drew that skipped past him for a two-base error, the hit scoring Kevin Youkilis with the Sox' final run.

The Sox were grateful for the help, but they also were efficient in taking advantage of the Oakland mistakes.

"It's like a relay race," Cora said. "You trust the next guy. We've been doing a pretty good job of it."

The Sox, meanwhile, got yet another clean inning from the American League's rookie of the month, Hideki Okajima, giving him 14 scoreless innings in 14 outings, and for the second straight night another highlight-reel catch from Crisp, who this time made a diving catch in right-center to take away a hit from Kendall, deflating a ninth-inning rally Oakland mounted against Mike Timlin, who gave up a run but got the save.

"There's a guy who's got a couple days off coming," Papelbon said of Okajima, who has pitched in three straight and four of the last five games. "He deserves it."

People like to say Beckett got off to a fast start last season, which is true to a point -- he won seven of his first eight decisions. But take a closer look.

In his first six starts last season, Beckett gave up six home runs in 37 innings, walked 16, and had an earned run average of 4.86.

In his first six starts this season, including last night's, in which he was perfect until Piazza led off the fifth with a single, Beckett has allowed just one home run in 39 2/3 innings, while issuing just nine walks and posting an ERA of 2.72. He may not have been the AL's pitcher of the month in April -- that distinction went to Toronto's Roy Halladay -- but his numbers this spring speak to the difference his teammates are seeing in him.

"He's a pitcher now, put it that way," Cora said. "Last year, when he got in trouble, he was just throwing. A lot of balls were going out of the yard. Now in situations when he has runners on second and third, he starts pitching. No big innings. That's what the great ones do."

Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com.