Red Sox have all the horses

Mark Kotsay no longer requires his batting helmet after scoring on Jason Bay's two-run double in the first inning. (BARRY CHIN/GLOBE STAFF)

The game seemed set up as a perfect opportunity for the Chicago White Sox to regain some lost footing in the American League Central. After all, it appeared the Red Sox were only going to offer token opposition by sending a 21-year-old to the mound for his major league debut and starting a cleanup hitter who, physically speaking, was capable of giving Kent Desormeaux a run for his money.

At least, that's how it appeared to Ozzie Guillen.

But the colorful White Sox manager woefully miscalculated on both counts.

Dustin Pedroia, a pint-sized powerhouse who was penciled into the No. 4 spot because of an illness to Kevin Youkilis, reached base five times for the second night in a row. He went 4 for 4 with a walk (intentional, no less) and spearheaded a 15-hit barrage last night that made a winner of rookie righthander Michael Bowden as the Red Sox beat the White Sox, 8-2, before a Fenway Park crowd of 37,751.

"I never thought I would walk a jockey," Guillen said, offering a backhanded salute to Pedroia, whom he was forced to intentionally walk in the eighth after the second baseman scored two runs and reached in his four previous at-bats on a single to left, a single to center, a double to left, and a single to right. Pedroia has eight hits and two walks in his last 10 at-bats.

"I must be the worst manager ever in the history of baseball right now, walking a guy that just came from being on top of Big Brown to beat the White Sox," Guillen said. "Right now, he's on a roll. I get opportunities to walk him to face Big Papi, I will do it, whoever hits in front of him. This guy right now is on fire. No matter what you throw there, he's going to get it."

Pedroia became the first Sox player in 19 years to get four hits in back-to-back games. Responding to a query about that statistical feat, a nonplussed Pedroia responded with a look that said, "Whatever, dude," and replied, "I don't really care."

Did it matter then that the last player to do it was none other than Hall of Famer Wade Boggs?

"Oh, really? Then, right on."

While Terry Francona lauded Bowden for the poise and composure he demonstrated in allowing just two runs on seven hits over five innings while recording one walk and three strikeouts, Guillen was hardly impressed by the fact he got beat by a rookie from Aurora, Ill., who grew up rooting for the Chicago Cubs.

"He got us on a bad day," Guillen said. "He's OK. He didn't really impress me. He beat a team that right now is not swinging the bat well. The first inning he threw all fastballs. We're a fastball-hitting team and we couldn't get him. When you deserve credit, I'll give you credit. He didn't impress me. He was good enough to beat the White Sox tonight."

Bowden, who said his heart "was pounding pretty hard" when he first took the mound, walked leadoff batter Orlando Cabrera. But he helped his cause when he fielded A.J. Pierzynski's broken-bat infield popup and then stepped on the bag to double off Cabrera, who had streaked to second on the hit-and-run attempt.

"After that first guy, I settled down, got into a rhythm," he said. "And that double play helped me out a lot."

As did the 5-1 lead the Sox handed Bowden after erupting for three runs in the first and two more in the second off White Sox starter Mark Buehrle (4 2/3 innings, 7 runs, 11 hits, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts).

Mark Kotsay's RBI double to deep center scored Jacoby Ellsbury, who had doubled, while Bay's two-run double to right drove in Pedroia (single) and Kotsay, good for a 3-0 lead in the first.

The White Sox got one back in the top of the second on Alexei Ramirez's RBI double, but Jeff Bailey's home run (his first this season and second of his career) and a Jed Lowrie sacrifice fly gave the Red Sox a 5-1 lead in the second.

"I thought his poise and his mound presence was outstanding," Francona said, which seemed to rebut Guillen's comments.

Chicago added a run on Pierzynski's RBI ground out in the third, but the Red Sox rewarded Bowden for his sterling work by chasing Buehrle from the game in the fifth after pushing across two more runs on Kotsay's two-run double to take a 7-2 lead.

Bowden handed the baton to Javier Lopez to start the sixth, the first of four relievers who would help secure his first victory and keep the Red Sox within 4 1/2 games of the first-place Rays in the AL East.

"It's a good win for us," Pedroia said. "I mean, these guys are winning the Central, or I don't know if they are, but they're a team that's going to be fighting for a playoff spot and we played well the last two days and hopefully we can come out and continue it."