Comeback kids; Six-run 9th salvages Sox' day.

Byline: Paul Jarvey

BOSTON - The Red Sox were dead, five runs down, their best pitcher lifted with a finger injury, Coco Crisp's popup floating in the air in front of home plate for the second out of the ninth inning.

And then...

And then catcher Ramon Hernandez dropped the wind-blown pop, Baltimore manager Sam Perlozzo inexplicably removed starter Jeremy Guthrie, nine straight batters reached base, and the Red Sox scored the tying and winning runs on a bouncer to the first baseman, then jumped around in celebration of their biggest ninth-inning comeback win in nine years.

"Just like we drew it up," Sox manager Terry Francona deadpanned after a most unlikely 6-5 victory.

The only thing that tempered the festive atmosphere was the injury that ended Josh Beckett's day after four innings. He came out after tearing some skin on the tip of the middle finger of his right hand.

Blisters on the same finger have landed Beckett on the disabled list six times, but he said this injury isn't as serious as that. He suffered a similar problem in 2002.

"Hopefully I can make my next start, but that's a big hopefully," Beckett said.

So, his streak of victories in consecutive starts to begin the season ended at seven, one short of the team record.

He was about to get his first loss until crazy things started unfolding in the ninth.

The Sox had only three hits off Guthrie and didn't get a runner past second base until that last inning.

Julio Lugo gave no indication of what was about to happen as he grounded out to start the inning.

"Tough guy pitching, you don't have a lot of hope (at that point)," he said.

The shortstop would return to play a key role in the drama, though. Crisp followed Lugo by popping up Guthrie's 91st and last final pitch of the afternoon.

Hernandez danced around, then had the ball pop out of his mitt about 15 feet in front of the plate. Perlozzo took out Guthrie, who was making just his fourth career start.

"He had never gone more than five or six (innings)," Perlozzo said. "He wanted to stay in, but that was definitely my decision. My decision."

It was a decision he would soon regret.

Danys Baez came in, gave up an RBI double off the wall in left-center to David Ortiz and a single to Wily Mo Pena, bringing the Mother's Day crowd to life.

O's closer Chris Ray then came in and walked J.D. Drew and Kevin Youkilis. Varitek followed by rifling a double to right, cutting the score to 5-4 and putting Youkilis on third with the tying run and one out.

Eric Hinske was intentionally walked, bringing up red-hot Alex Cora. He bounced to Brian Roberts at second who fired home to nip Youkilis. Youkilis fired his helmet, protesting the call.

Then came Lugo for the second time in the inning. He worked the count to 3-2 before hitting a bouncer to the right of first baseman Kevin Millar. Millar flipped the ball to Ray with Lugo quickly closing in on the bag.

The pitcher had Lugo beaten to the base, but he never caught the ball and two runs scored. Lugo was credited with a single and an RBI, the winning run coming on Ray's error.

"I thought I was going to beat it out," Lugo said.

He leapt in the air after turning to see Hinske cross home with the winning run. His teammates starting leaping around, too, then piling on each other.

The last time the Red Sox erased such a large deficit in the ninth was on Opening Day 1998 when they scored seven runs without recording an out and beat the Seattle Mariners on Mo Vaughn's walk-off grand slam.

The Mariners took out Randy Johnson after eight innings that day, just like the O's removed a cruising Guthrie yesterday.

"It's amazing," Francona said. "A dropped popup and the next thing you know a combination of some magic here (and) some really good players don't quit. You just want a chance to get the tying run to the plate."

Varitek said he sensed that things were shifting when Ortiz smashed his opposite-field double and woke up the crowd.

Beckett said he turned to Tim Wakefield when Guthrie came out and they agreed that the Sox were going to win. They believed it, too.

"These guys are unbelievable," Beckett said. "They never surprise me. I'm kind of always expecting great stuff out of them."

NAME: BOSTON RED SOX

ART: PHOTOS

CUTLINE: (1) Red Sox shortstop Julio Lugo, center, is mobbed by teammates Wily Mo Pena, left, and J.C. Romero after Lugo's hit scored the winning run in the ninth inning of Boston's 6-5 win over Baltimore. (2) Boston's Julio Lugo slides safely into first base as Orioles pitcher Chris Ray drops the ball, allowing the winning run to score in the ninth inning.

PHOTOG: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS