ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Quick hits on Red Sox 6, Angels 3:

* He won the All-Star Home Run Derby here exactly two weeks ago, and Monday night, without the benefit of Adrian Beltre wiping his brow with a towel or Yankees coach Tony Pena lobbing him beachballs, David Ortiz hit two more home runs.

But before people got too wrapped up in the idea that he loves hitting in Angel Stadium, Ortiz showed he doesn’t have a short memory.

“I had one of my worst games ever here. Don’t forget about that,’’ said Ortiz, harkening back to the night last May in which he went 0-for-7 and struck out three times in a 5-4, 12-inning loss to the Angels.

Truth be told, Ortiz hits worse here than in any American League ballpark, a .197 average (25-for-127) when he is in Orange County.

But he welcomed Dan Haren back to the AL with a third-inning home run that just reached the seats in right, then crushed a two-run homer off Angels reliever Fernando Rodney in the eighth for his 35th multihomer game in a Sox uniform. That ties him with Jim Rice on the Sox's all-time list, just behind another Hall of Famer, Ted Williams, who has 37.

“Like I said, man, we have to try and produce for our pitching,’’ Ortiz said. “Our pitching has been awesome lately, but we just haven’t been able to score some runs for them.’’

* Clay Buchholz gave up a bases-empty home run to Bobby Abreu in the first, pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second, stranded two more runners in the third, then looked every bit the All-Star caliber pitcher he was before going on the disabled list.

“In the third inning I thought it was just going to be another long day for the bullpen,’’ said Buchholz, who gave up six hits (two home runs) and five runs in his first start off the DL last week in Oakland.

But it may have been the second inning in which this game was won, as Buchholz induced three straight popups to keep the Angels off the board.

“Doesn’t happen all the time,’’ Buchholz said of his escape act. “I think the only guy who does that on a consistent basis is Daisuke. That’s unbelievable. I sit there and watch him find ways to get outs. That’s why he’s as good as he is.’’

* How to beat the bullpen blues? Do more damage to the opponents’ 'pen than they do to yours. Haren, making his first start for the Angels one day after he was acquired from Arizona, was KO’d by a Kevin Youkilis line drive with two out in the fifth. ("I saw it go off him, but I didn’t know where it hit him,’’ Youkilis said.)

The Sox led 2-1 when Haren left. They expanded that lead by scoring two runs in both the eighth and ninth innings, Ortiz accounting for the first two with his home run off Rodney, and J.D. Drew driving home two more with a double in the ninth off rookie Mike Kohn, who was called up earlier in the day and making his big-league debut.

That was enough to override the two-run homer hit by Hideki Matsui in the eighth inning off Scott Atchison, in the unaccustomed position of a summons to hold a three-run lead in the eighth. Daniel Bard was unavailable, having pitched in five of the first seven games of this trip, including three of the four in Seattle.

“As much as we like Bard,’’ manager Terry Francona said, “it’s not our goal to have him lead the league in appearances.’’

With the tying run coming to the plate with two out after Matsui’s home run -- his fourth in the last six games -- Francona resorted to a strategy he had not yet employed this season, bringing in closer Jonathan Papelbon for a four-out save.

Papelbon, who had pitched two innings or more four times this season, was up to the challenge, retiring ex-Royal Alberto Callaspo on a tapper to second to end the eighth, then retiring the final three Angels hitters after Mike Napoli’s single to open the ninth.

The save was Papelbon’s 23d of the season, five behind league leader Neftali Feliz of the Rangers.

The Sox scored as many runs Monday night after the sixth inning (four) as they had in the first seven games of this series (four in 26 late innings).

“We’ve gotten into the other team’s bullpen but haven’t done anything,’’ Francona said. “That wasn’t the case tonight.’’

* Victor Martinez, who hadn’t played since June 27 and had no interest in a rehab assignment, hit the first pitch he saw for a run-scoring single in the second, which gave him one more RBI than the combined total of the three catchers the Sox have used since both Martinez (fractured left thumb) and Jason Varitek (fractured right foot) went on the DL.

“More comfortable having Victor back,’’ Ortiz said. “I give Victor a lot of credit for just activating himself, not even trying to go back to rehab. Just unbelievable. Man, he looked great to me. Looked like he had better timing than myself.’’

* With Martinez eschewing rehab, how can the Sox expect to persuade second baseman Dustin Pedroia he’ll need to play a few games in the minors before he is activated? Pedroia had hoped to see Angels orthopedist Lewis Yocum on Monday but that exam will come Tuesday instead. Pedroia did some running before batting practice, Francona said, and was not encouraged by the results.

* The sand in the hourglass is running out on one, if not both, of these postseason perennials. The Angels haven’t been the same since slugger Kendry Morales fractured his leg celebrating a walkoff home run, and now they’ll be anxious for the results of Tuesday’s follow-up exam on Haren, their intended ace for now and the immediate future. They’re 7½ games behind Texas in the AL West, and just two games over .500.

The Sox, meanwhile, took the field with another Yankee win and Matt Garza’s no-hitter for Tampa Bay already in the books. They remain eight behind the Yankees for the AL East lead and five behind Tampa Bay for the wild card, deficits that could well impact what moves Theo Epstein makes before Saturday’s trading deadline.