The Red Sox beat the Colorado Rockies 2-1 as its pitchers had a five-star performance and gave the team a perfect record in the World Series as they dominated the Denver batters for a second night in a row.

Curt Schilling started for the Red Sox and managed to hold Denver’s batters to four singles in five innings Thursday night at Fenway Park.

Then it was Hideki Okajima’s turn at the mound and the Japanese held down seven-straight Rockies batters, four of them by strikeout.  He also became the first Japanese-born pitcher to compete in the World Series.

Jonathan Papelbon finished the job and allowed one hit but kept Denver scoreless to give Boston the 2-0 advantage in the best-of-seven-games World Series. In the match played a night before, the Red Sox hammered the Rockies 13-1.

"That was the Pape-jima show tonight," Schilling said. "A 2-1 game in the fifth ends that way? Those two guys were just dominating. Tonight we had to have it and they both answered the bell."

After the crushing defeat in the first game of the series, the Rockies looked as though they were trying to get back at the Sox. Schilling hit Willy Taveras with a pitch to send him to the base. Taveras eventually advanced on an infield single and a throwing error by Boston’s third baseman before reaching the home plate when Todd Helton grounded out to first.

But the Sox equalized in the fourth inning when Mike Lowell advanced to first base with a walk from Ubaldo Jimenez and then managed to score in a sacrifice fly. He also played a big role in Detroit’s decisive run in the fifth inning when his double drove in David Ortiz.

The Rockies are now 0-2 and hope for a miracle on their home court in Denver.

"It's disappointing," Hurdle said of the walks. "It puts you in positions you don't want to get into. We've got to find a way to correct it. We haven't been able to help ourselves when we've been able to."

Both teams will take a day off before resuming play Saturday at Denver's Coors Field.