“He doesn’t give up that many,” Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. “You think you have the right situation, but...”

Bradford left the Baltimore clubhouse without talking to reporters.

Throughout the first two games of the series, Ramirez was swinging at the first pitch. He did it again against Bradford, with positive results.

“You could see he was aggressive up there,” Trembley said. “The worst thing we did was throw him a strike. It probably would have been better if threw the ball outside of the strike zone every time tonight because he seemed like he was in a hurry to get it over with.”

Mission accomplished, against a pitcher who doesn’t give up many home runs.

“His power is so strong to center and right field. You don’t see that against a guy like Chad Bradford,” Millar said. “That’s why it’s all the more amazing.”

In the ninth inning, Ortiz hurt his left hand while swinging at a pitch and left the game. X-rays were negative; the injury was diagnosed as a strained wrist.

One batter after Ortiz exited, Ramirez popped out to finish 1-for-5. But that one hit was a whopper.

“Great, man. Finally, it’s over with. It’s a good thing, man,” Ortiz said. “I told him, ’You can finally go eat. No one’s going to ask you (about) 500 anymore.”’

The ball was retrieved by a Boston fan who claimed to have caught it on the fly. He handed the ball to Ramirez in the Red Sox clubhouse after the game.

“I don’t want to keep the ball. I want to see how much money I can get for the hospital I’m donating $1,000 for (every) home run,” Ramirez said. “That’s what I want to do.”

Pitching for the second time since his no-hitter on May 19 against Kansas City, Boston’s Jon Lester allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings. His run of four starts without yielding a home run ended when Brian Roberts connected in the fifth to give Baltimore a 3-2 lead.

Lester was replaced by David Aardsma (2-1), who pitched two scoreless innings. Jonathan Papelbon worked the ninth for his 16th save.

Notes: Ellsbury took over the AL lead with 26 steals (in 28 tries). ... Red Sox RF J.D. Drew entered in the ninth inning after missing Friday’s game with vertigo. ... All four of Roberts’ homers have been solo shots. ... Boston activated RHP Clay Buchholz from the 15-day disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A Pawtucket, where he had been on a rehabilitation assignment.

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