Boston ? The first meeting between the Red Sox and Athletics since last year’s playoffs failed to provide much drama.

Mark Bellhorn homered and drove in five runs, and Boston backed Curt Schilling with its top offensive performance of the year in a 12-2 rout of Oakland and Tim Hudson on Tuesday night.

Manny Ramirez hit his 12th homer and drove in three runs, and David Ortiz had four hits and doubled twice to increase his AL-leading total to 20. Bellhorn, Johnny Damon and Jason Varitek had three hits each.

“We beat one of the game’s best pitchers,” Damon said. “When he has two strikes on you, he’s as good as anybody. We tried to swing the bats early in the count.”

A few hours after learning AL batting champion Bill Mueller will need knee surgery and be sidelined for about six weeks, Boston sent Hudson (5-2) to his shortest outing this season, setting season highs for runs and hits (19). The AL East leader won its fourth straight and stopped Oakland’s winning streak at five.

“When somebody goes down, you don’t use that as an excuse to lose,” said Boston manager Terry Francona, who has been without the injured Nomar Garciaparra and Trot Nixon all season.

Schilling (6-3) struck out five to increase his season total to 66, passing teammate Pedro Martinez (63) for the AL lead. Schilling allowed two runs and nine hits in seven innings, walking none and lowering his earned-run average to 2.82, third in the league behind Cleveland’s C.C. Sabathia (2.26) and Seattle’s Freddy Garcia (2.71).

“I was expecting this to be a tight one,” said Schilling, who struggled in the seventh when medication for a sprained ankle began to wear off. “I was a little disappointed in the way that I finished.”

Schilling said he was “stunned” by Hudson’s outing.

“Everybody thought it was going to be a pitchers’ duel, but, obviously, that didn’t happen,” Oakland’s Eric Byrnes said.

Hudson dropped to 1-3 at Fenway Park with an 8.53 ERA. At 15-6, the Red Sox have the top home record in the majors.

“There was nothing really working for me at all,” Hudson said. “My command of the fastball wasn’t there, and if you don’t have that it’s hard to get your other pitches on track.”

Devil Rays 6, Twins 1

St. Petersburg, Fla. — Julio Lugo homered and drove in four runs to back Victor Zambrano, and Tampa Bay beat Minnesota to stretch a winning streak to five for the first time since 2000. Lugo, who leads the Devil Rays with 29 RBIs, hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth and a three-run homer in the sixth.

Zambrano (4-4) gave up one run and five hits in seven innings and struck out eight. He walked two, raising his major-league-leading total to 46. Zambrano had gone 0-4 with 7.17 ERA in his previous seven starts and had walked 16 over six innings in his previous two outings.

Rangers 7, White Sox 4

Chicago — Kenny Rogers won his third straight start, tying for the major-league lead with his seventh win, and Texas beat Chicago. Rogers (7-2) allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings, struck out six and walked one. The 39-year-old left-hander, off to his best start since 1995, joined Houston’s Roger Clemens, Anaheim’s Jarrod Washburn and Cincinnati’s Paul Wilson as the only seven-game winners in the major leagues.

Francisco Cordero recorded four outs for his 15th save in as many chances.

Yankees 11, Orioles 3

Baltimore — Alex Rodriguez hit a three-run homer, and Jon Lieber pitched seven innings of four-hit ball, leading New York past Baltimore. Facing the Yankees for the first time as a rookie manager, Lee Mazzilli watched helplessly as his former team dealt Baltimore its season-high fifth straight defeat.

When Mazzilli served as first-base coach under New York manager Joe Torre from 2000-03, the Yankees were 46-22 against Baltimore.

On this night, the mentor got the best of his disciple, and New York again had its way with the Orioles. Enrique Wilson had four RBIs for the Yankees, who have won 40 of their last 51 games against Baltimore and are 56-27 at Camden Yards.

Mariners 5, Indians 4, 12 innings

Cleveland — Raul Ibanez hit a run-scoring single with two outs in the 12th inning to give Seattle a win over Cleveland, which has lost a season-high six straight games. Ibanez pulled a 1-2 pitch from Scott Stewart through the hole into right, scoring Randy Winn.

Mike Myers (2-1) pitched a perfect 11th, and Eddie Guardado worked the 12th for his seventh save in nine tries.