Red Sox claim World Series title

Boston withstood late-inning homers by Brad Hawpe and Garrett Atkins to hold on to the 23rd four-game sweep in the Fall Classic.

The Red Sox combined a lethal offence with dominant pitching to put an emphatic end to the season for Colorado, which entered the series with 21 wins in 22 games but was never in this series.

Lowell had two hits off game Rockies starter Aaron Cook and Bobby Kielty also homered as Boston won its eighth straight World Series game - they swept St. Louis in 2004 - and seventh straight triumph this postseason by a combined score of 58-15.

Boston outscored Colorado, 29-11, in the series and allowed the National League upstarts, who were appearing in the postseason for the first time since 1995 and their first World Series all-time, to lead for a total of three innings - all in Game Two.

Lester was making his first start since September 26, when he was knocked out in the fifth inning against the Oakland Athletics.

He yielded just three hits and three walks in 92 pitches over five-and-two-third innings, leaving after issuing a two-out walk to Garrett Atkins. But Manny Delcarmen came back from a 2-0 count to strike out Ryan Spilborghs to end the sixth and ensure Lester of the spotless line.

Delcarmen yielded a long home run to right by Hawpe in the seventh and a one-out single to pinch hitter Cory Sullivan before yielding to Mike Timlin, who quieted the Rockies' fans by striking out Kaz Matsui and Troy Tulowitzki - his third of the game.

Kielty then came on as a pinch hitter and launched the first pitch of the eighth inning from lefthander Brian Fuentes into the left field seats for a 4-1 lead.

The Rockies answered back off Hideki Okajima, who was tagged with a two-run homer to left by Atkins with one out in the eighth, cutting the deficit to 4-3.