BOSTON -- The Red Sox just completed running the gauntlet of the three best pitchers au courant in the American League, and came away with wins in all three games.

Felix Hernandez, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner on Sunday. Jered Weaver, the undefeated ace of the Angels, on Monday. Then, on Tuesday night, Dan Haren, who began the night with the lowest ERA of any starting pitcher in the league, 1.23, and had allowed just 26 hits in 44 innings all season.

Haren was every bit as good as advertised, taking a 1-0 lead into the sixth while holding the Sox to two ground-ball singles. But Adrian Gonzalez, who faced Haren with regularity when both played in the NL West, singled home the tying run, Jed Lowrie singled home the go-ahead run, and the Sox hit three home runs in the eighth. It was the second straight night in which they broke open a pitchers' duel late.

"I think we’ve played crisp baseball,'' manager Terry Francona said after Jon Lester gave up just one run in seven innings, on a home run by Mark Trumbo that came on an 0-and-2 pitch in the second inning. "Obviously, we got some pitching.

"Tonight again, facing Haren, we didn’t do anything early. Lester made the one mistake to Trumbo -- he didn't get it up enough or in, but because he pitched so well after that, he gave us a chance. Haren left a couple splits up, just enough for us to get a few base hits, get something going, then we spread it out.

"We’ve done that the last three days. We faced some really good pitching … we found ways to beat them. Some of the best pitching in baseball and they're hot.''

Locked-in Lester: Lester, no slouch himself, struck out a season-high 11 in seven innings, and with a yield of one run has now allowed just seven runs over his last six starts after getting tagged for a five-spot by Texas in the season opener.

Another first for A-Gon: On Monday night, Gonzalez hit his first Wall ball in Fenway, a three-run double in Boston's six-run seventh. On Tuesday, Gonzalez hit his first home run in the Fens, a drive into the visitors' bullpen in right that knocked out Haren (7 IP+, 9 H, 4 ER, 0 B, 8 SO). Gonzalez's home run was his second of the season, and first in 96 at-bats.

Back-to-back, Jack: David Ortiz, batting cleanup behind Gonzalez because Kevin Youkilis was a late scratch with the flu, greeted reliever Hisanori Takahashi with a home run, the first time this season Sox batters have hit consecutive home runs. It was Ortiz's second home run in two nights after he'd gone a month without one. And of his four home runs this season, two have come off lefties. Lowrie followed with a single, and one out later, Marco Scutaro hit his first home run of the season. It was the first time this year the Sox have hit three home runs in an inning.

Virtue of speed: Jacoby Ellsbury, a day after bruising his left knee in a hard slide at home plate, scored Boston's first run with a dash home from second on Gonzalez's single, reaching the plate just ahead of the throw with another hard slide. Carl Crawford, who had his third straight two-hit night, scored from first on Jarrod Saltalamacchia's double to make it 3-1 in the seventh.

Crooked halos: The Sox are 6-0 against the Angels this season, outscoring LA 36-13 in that stretch. They have won 15 of 16 meetings since the start of the 2010 season, or ever since the Angels swept the Sox out of the 2009 playoffs.

On deck: Josh Beckett, who will be pitching on six days' rest, is scheduled to face Ervin Santana Wednesday night. Since starting the season 2-10, the Sox have gone 12-5.