Boston’s Burkett Finds His Groove

BOSTON — John Burkett found his rhythm. Now, his teammates hope to find theirs, too.

Burkett pitched a four-hitter for his first complete game this season, lifting the Boston Red Sox to a 4-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday night.

Boston trails first-place New York by four games in the American League East. The Yankees lost to Tampa Bay, 7-4.

“It was really big,” Boston Manager Grady Little said. “It meant a lot to this ballclub and a lot to him. It came at the right time. This is what we needed, and hopefully it’ll get us going.”

Burkett (10-3), who is 10-0 against AL teams this year, matched his season high with seven strikeouts and didn’t walk a batter in his sixth career shutout.

He escaped a first-and-third, no-out jam in the sixth when he induced Melvin Mora to pop up and Howie Clark to ground into a double play. The right-hander retired the last 11 batters.

“Control is everything for me. I always say that,” Burkett said. “If I had to draw up a game plan for the rest of the year, I would pitch like today. I had control.”

Four of Boston’s major league-leading 13 shutouts have come against Baltimore.

Lou Merloni hit a solo homer and Trot Nixon went two for three with a triple and a double.

The Red Sox broke through with two runs against Sidney Ponson (4-5) in the fourth.

Nixon hit a leadoff triple and scored on a passed ball. Shea Hillenbrand drove in the other run with a double after Manny Ramirez singled and moved to second on a groundout.

Merloni homered into the left-field screen, making it 3-0 in the fifth. Ramirez singled leading off the sixth and scored on Hillenbrand’s double-play grounder.