CHOPPED DOWN TO SIZE RAMIREZ'S GROUNDOUT LIFTS RED SOX PAST ANGELS BOSTON 4, ANGELS 3.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - Manny Ramirez pumped his fist repeatedly.

Big home run for the Red Sox slugger? Gapper off the wall in left-center? No, just a broken-bat chopper to third. But it came with the bases loaded and one out in the 10th inning, driving in former Taft High of Woodland Hills and Moorpark College standout Gabe Kapler with what turned out to be the winning run in the Red Sox 4-3 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 43,896 at Angel Stadium.

It may have been ``Manny being Manny,'' as they like to say in Red Sox Nation, but it was all the Red Sox needed in that situation against Angels reliever Scot Shields.

``He put the ball in play,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ``They pressured us every inning. Maybe it's a little ironic they win the game on a 70-foot ground ball, but that's baseball a lot of times. That's the way it goes.''

Singles by Kapler and Johnny Damon got the inning started for the Red Sox. Shields struck out Edgar Renteria, bringing up Roberto Petagine. Petagine was batting only because David Ortiz had been ejected in the eighth inning for arguing a called third strike.

But Petagine put together a good at-bat, fouling off several tough pitches from Shields and working a walk to load the bases for Ramirez. Ramirez was thrown out after his chopper to Chone Figgins, but it pushed across the winner.

Curt Schilling (5-5) struck out four while retiring the Angels in order in both the ninth and 10th innings to get the victory.

Everything seemed to be going the Red Sox's way until Ortiz was ejected, with the Red Sox holding a 3-1 lead thanks to a solid outing from starting pitcher Matt Clement. Ortiz didn't like home-plate umpire Bill Welke's called third strike that ended the inning, and his arguing escalated until he was tossed.

That ignited the crowd, and the Angels rallied in the bottom of the eighth against reliever Mike Timlin. With one out, Orlando Cabrera singled and stole second. After Darin Erstad popped out, Vladimir Guerrero was walked intentionally.

Cabrera and Guerrero pulled off a key double steal on the first pitch to Bengie Molina, but Molina fell behind in the count 0-2. Molina eventually worked the count full before hitting a line drive into the left-field corner to drive in two and tie the game.

Both starting pitchers pitched well, but were long gone by the time the game was decided. Clement outpitched the Angels' John Lackey, who made a career-high 124 pitches in six innings and held the potent Red Sox lineup to three runs and nine hits.

Clement was just a little better. The only Angels hitter who seemed to have Clement's number was Casey Kotchman, who reached base three times with a single, double and walk.

Kotchman scored after his double in the fifth inning, which was Clement's only blemish against an Angels offense that pounded out 13 runs and 15 hits one night earlier. Clement gave up one run and six hits in seven innings.

John Olerud's two-run double off Lackey in the fifth inning gave the Red Sox a 3-0 lead, but Lackey managed to work his way out of several jams to keep the game close. And that allowed the Angels to stay within striking distance going into the late innings.

Lackey worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first inning by striking out Jason Varitek and getting Olerud to hit into a fielder's choice. In the second inning, consecutive singles by Bill Mueller and Alex Cora and a sacrifice bunt by Kapler gave the Red Sox runners on second and third with one out.

Damon followed with a grounder to first baseman Erstad, who was playing deep. Erstad appeared to have a play at the plate, but instead settled for the out at first as Mueller slid across the plate for a 1-0 Red Sox lead.

Had Erstad known runs would be so difficult to come by, he might have thrown home. Clement struck out Cabrera, Erstad, Guerrero and Molina in succession at one point and didn't face an Angels scoring threat until the fourth.

That's when Cabrera and Erstad opened the inning with singles, giving the Angels runners at first and third with nobody out and Guerrero up. But Guerrero popped out after swinging at the first pitch, and Molina grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Joe Haakenson, [phone]

joe.haakenson(at)sgvn.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 4 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) The Red Sox's Jason Varitek just gets past Angels catcher Bengie Molina to score off John Olerud's double in the fifth inning Friday.

(2) Angels manager Mike Scioscia complains to second-base umpire Tim Welke after the Red Sox's Johnny Damon was called safe upon stealing second.

Chris Carlson/Associated Press

Box:

(1) BOSTON AT ANGELS

- Daily News

(2) ALMANAC

(3) GAME RECAP

(4) HOW THE RUNS SCORED