Sox better under pressure

They're a bigger hit when there are 2 outs

Ervin Santana was rolling Friday night, his sliders darting and fastballs scraping the 100-mile-per-hour mark on the Angel Stadium radar gun. The first two batters he faced in Game 2 of the American League Division Series had no chance - Jacoby Ellsbury popped up, and Dustin Pedroia flailed at strike three.

Santana threw 21 more pitches in the first inning, any one of which could have finished the frame and granted the game's early momentum to the Angels. Before he could escape, the Red Sox pounded five straight hits and scored four runs, a margin the Angels never surmounted.

The Red Sox' proclivity for two-out hits, perhaps as much anything, has staked them to a 2-0 lead over the Angels in the ALDS, which resumes tonight at Fenway Park. They belted nine hits with two outs Friday night, including their first seven, making them 13 for 31 during the series with two outs for a .419 average.

The Sox have scored eight of their 11 runs with two outs, and almost all of their production in Anaheim, Calif., came with two outs - with one out or no outs, the Red Sox are batting .196.

"It ends up being a big key," catcher Jason Varitek said. "But the big key is our pitching."

The Red Sox' success with two outs becomes more when compared with the Angels' struggles. Los Angeles is 3 for 12 with two outs and men in scoring position. "It's been down from what we need to do," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. (Howie Kendrick is 0 for 4 with two outs, and he has left 12 men on base while going 0 for 9 in the first two games.) The Red Sox relied almost exclusively on success in such situations, scoring their first five runs with a pair of two-out rallies.

David Ortiz smoked a line drive to right field, disallowing Santana an easy inning. The hits piled up - a Kevin Youkilis bloop, a J.D. Drew smash RBI double. Extending the inning allowed Jason Bay to come to the plate, and he blasted a homer to center field. The Sox turned a harmless inning into a devastating one.

"With two outs, I think it's a bigger momentum change," Alex Cora said. "You could feel the tide was changing. They're one pitch away from getting back to the dugout, and then all of a sudden, boom. Hits one out. That's really impressive. It gives you confidence. You had nothing going on, and then all of a sudden, base hit, base hit, home run."

Cora sparked the Sox' second two-out rally, lacing a double to right in the fourth. ("That's what I do," Cora said. "Just try to contribute.") His double gave Ellsbury a bonus at-bat, and he delivered another double to score Cora with the fifth run.

"We extended a couple innings with two outs," manager Terry Francona said. "Some nights, it's glaring. Some nights, you don't need them if you've driven in a bunch of runs. It's the way the game is."

Salvaging innings ignited the Red Sox' offense last year in their World Series run. They hit .340 (18 for 53) with men in scoring position and two outs in last year's postseason. The Red Sox, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, established a postseason record when they clobbered 12 two-out hits in Game 1 of the World Series against the Colorado Rockies.

"Just grinding at-bats," Cora said. "Same at-bats. You don't want to do too much thinking. There's 27 outs, and you can't give anything away. It doesn't matter if you do it with one out, with two outs. It's not surprising, because we're not going to ever give up at-bats."

Said Drew: "That's baseball. Get your hits when you can. Just happens sometimes."

Adam Kilgore can be reached at akilgore@globe.com