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David Ortiz hit his sixth and seventh home runs of the season. (Gregory Bull/AP)

Boston's seven homers: 56k | 300k

NEW YORK -- The Red Sox lowered the boom on the Boomer. In fact, they flat-out punished David Wells, raking five homers against the burly lefty and recording a rousing 10-3 victory Friday afternoon in the first of a four-game series at Yankee Stadium.

The five homers allowed by Wells marked a career high. And he also established a season-high by issuing two walks. This was no small feat of patience by Sox third baseman Bill Mueller, who earned both free passes. Wells came into this start with just four walks in the entire season.

"It was quite impressive out there," Sox manager Grady Little said. "We were doing it against a pretty good pitcher out there too and it's something we're proud of."

All in all, the Red Sox couldn't have enjoyed the Fourth of July much more, putting on their own version of fireworks in front of a packed house of 55,144.

The opposite was at work for Wells, who fell to 10-3. After giving up eight hits and 10 runs over 5 2/3 innings, Wells hurled his cap and glove into the stands.

The Sox walloped seven homers in the game, falling one shy of the franchise record, which was ironically set on July 4, 1977.

It was an infamous day for the Yankees, as they set a franchise record for most homers allowed in a game.

"I thought that fireworks started after it got dark," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "They obviously started earlier today. The bottom of the batting order did most of the damage."

Jason Varitek, David Ortiz and Mueller paced the bomb squad, clubbing two homers each. It was the first time since a 29-4 thrashing of the St. Louis Browns on June 8, 1950 that the Sox had three players with multi-homer games

Manny Ramirez hit the most emphatic homer of the day, smashing a towering two-run blast into the eighth row of the upper deck in left field in the third.

"That was the longest ball I've ever seen hit here, even in BP," Varitek said.

More than all the home runs, the Red Sox simply needed this win. After losing two out of three in Tampa Bay -- capped by a tough-to-stomach 10-inning loss Thursday night -- it was big for the Sox to wash that sour taste away with a performance like this.

A loss would have pushed the Sox five games back in the AL East for the first time in more than two months. Instead, they moved within three games heading into Saturday's matinee.

For all the gutwrenching defeats the Sox have suffered in the late innings this season, they've typically responded like they did Friday -- with a win.

"The only way we can explain that is the character we have in that room out there," Little said. "The players, they've been really good about washing some games off in the shower and coming back the next day and getting after it."

It was the first July 4 meeting between the Red Sox and Yankees since Dave Righetti no-hit Boston here 20 years ago. But this game was the complete opposite.

Early on, it looked like the Yankees would be the team most capable of playing home run derby.

With Derek Lowe not at his best, Alfonso Soriano led off the Yankees' first with a towering homer to left-center. They made it 2-0 on Hideki Matsui's RBI single to right and Lowe labored through 27 pitches before making it out of the inning.

By the end of the day, Lowe wound up with a performance respectable enough (6 1/3 innings, 10 hits, 3 runs) to run his record to 10-3. Lowe has won his last seven decisions and hasn't lost since May 11.

"I was struggling just to find a successful outing (earlier in the year)," Lowe said. "To get to 10 wins before the All-Star break might be the most gratifying thing I've done in my career."

Just as Lowe settled down as the game progressed, the demise of Wells came without warning. He set down the first six batters he faced, three of which came on strikeouts.

But it all came crashing down in the third. Gabe Kapler got things started with a single up the middle. Mueller worked Wells for a walk. And then Varitek breathed some serious life into the Sox, belting a three-run homer to give the Sox their first lead of the day at 3-2.

"We're sitting there down 2-0 and facing David Wells and you're able to get a big blow like that, that lights a fire under everybody's rear end and kind of got us going," Little said. "It was big."

With two outs, Ramirez launched his two-out missile just to the right of the foul pole in the upper deck. It was the third homer in the last two games for Ramirez, and his 20th of the season.

What was the reaction to that mammoth blast on the Boston bench?

"Wow," Varitek said. "When you drop your own teammates' jaws, that's pretty impressive."

Just as impressive was the way the Sox continued to attack Wells. In the fourth, they went to work again. This time it was Ortiz ripping one over the wall in right to make it 6-2.

Being that Lowe wasn't particularly sharp, the Yankees still thought they could make a game of this. Karim Garcia swatted a solo homer to right to cut the deficit back to three runs in the bottom of the fourth.

That wasn't close enough though. Not on a day Wells just couldn't settle into a groove.

In the sixth, the Sox deep-sixed Wells. Mueller and Varitek led the inning off with back-to-back homers to make it 8-3.

Ian Browne is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.