BALTIMORE - Dreadlocks are in fashion in the exclusive 500-home-run club, now that Manny Ramirez has added his name to the list of baseball's most prolific sluggers.

Ramirez became the 24th player to reach the milestone, connecting in the seventh inning off Chad Bradford to help the Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-3, last night.

Boston's leftfielder hit the first pitch into the bleacher seats in right-center. He stood and watched the flight of the ball, then took off around the bases in a slow trot, a broad smile on his face.

Ramirez slapped a high-five with first-base coach Luis Alicea, tapped hands with third-base coach DeMarlo Hale, then hugged on-deck hitter Mike Lowell as he crossed the plate. Many of his teammates greeted him as he reached the dugout, where Ramirez received more hugs and bounced up and down in an embrace with David Ortiz and Julio Lugo.

The solo shot gave Boston a 5-3 lead. It traveled an estimated 410 feet.

In the bottom of the seventh, as he ran to his position, Ramirez waved to thousands of Boston fans among the 48,281 at Camden Yards.

The 500 club has only two dozen members, but Ramirez also joined an even smaller fraternity. He is only the seventh player with 500 homers, 1,500 RBIs, 1,000 walks, 475 doubles, and a .300 batting average. The others are Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Mel Ott, Babe Ruth, Frank Thomas and Ted Williams.

Boston 002 001 210–6 9 0

Baltimore 020 010 000–3 9 2

Boston AB   R   H   BI   Avg.      Baltimore AB   R   H   BI   Avg.

Ellsbury rf-lf 3   1   1   0   .281      BRoberts 2b 4   1   1   1   .267

Pedroia 2b 5   1   2   1   .281      Markakis rf 5   0   2   0   .258

Ortiz dh 3   1   1   2   .252      Mora 3b 4   0   0   0   .245

a-Casey ph-dh 1   0   0   0   .351      Millar 1b 2   1   0   0   .237

MRamirez lf 5   1   1   1   .286      Huff dh 3   0   1   0   .244

JDrew rf 0   0   0   0   .282      RHernandez c 4   1   2   0   .222

Lowell 3b 4   1   0   0   .273      Payton lf 4   0   1   1   .236

Youkilis 1b 3   1   1   0   .302      AJones cf 4   0   1   1   .245

Varitek c 4   0   3   1   .272      Cintron ss 3   0   0   0   .350

Crisp cf 4   0   0   0   .248      b-Scott ph 1   0   1   0   .253

Lugo ss 3   0   0   0   .274

Totals 34   3   9   3

Cora ss 0   0   0   0   .333

Totals 35   6   9   5

a-flied out for Ortiz in the 9th. b-singled for Cintron in the 9th.

E:

Cintron (2), Olson (1).

LOB:

Boston 8, Baltimore 8.

2B:

Varitek (12), Markakis 2 (10), Huff (13).

3B:

Ellsbury (3).

HR:

MRamirez (10), off Bradford; BRoberts (4), off Lester; Ortiz (13), off Olson; Pedroia (4), off Olson.

RBIS:

Pedroia (28), Ortiz 2 (43), MRamirez (35), Varitek (20), BRoberts (18), Payton (15), AJones (17).

SB:

Ellsbury 3 (26).

SF:

Ortiz.

GIDP:

Crisp, Cintron.

RLSP:

Boston 4 (Ortiz, MRamirez, Crisp, Lugo); Baltimore 4 (Millar, RHernandez 2, AJones).

RA:

Mora.

DP:

Boston 2 (Lowell and Youkilis), (Cora and Pedroia); Baltimore 1 (Cintron and Millar).

Boston walks (3):

Ellsbury 2, Lugo.

Baltimore walks (4):

BRoberts, Millar 2, Huff.

Boston strikeouts (7):

Ellsbury 2, Ortiz, Lowell, Youkilis, Crisp, Lugo.

Baltimore strikeouts (8):

BRoberts, Mora, Millar, Huff, RHernandez, Payton, AJones 2.

Boston IP   H   R   ER   BB   SO   NP   ERA

Lester 5   7   3   3   3   4   103   3.67

Aardsma (W) 2   0   0   0   0   2   27   2.73

Okajima (H) 1   1   0   0   0   1   10   0.72

Papelbon (S) 1   1   0   0   1   1   15   2.08

Baltimore IP   H   R   ER   BB   SO   NP   ERA

Olson 5   3   2   2   2   5   89   4.03

Cormier (BS) (L) 11/3   3   2   2   0   0   27   2.84

JWalker 1/3   0   0   0   0   0   3   4.41

Bradford 1/3   1   1   1   0   0   3   3.12

Sarfate 2   2   1   1   1   2   43   3.38

W:

Aardsma, 2-1.

L:

Cormier, 0-2.

S:

Papelbon, 16.

H:

Okajima, 11.

BS:

Cormier, 1.

IR-S:

JWalker 1-1.

HBP:

by Sarfate (Youkilis), by Cormier (Lowell).

PB:

Varitek.

Balk:

Cormier.

Umpires:

Home, Bob Davidson; first, Rob Drake; second, Alfonso Marquez; third, Andy Fletcher.

T:

3:20.

A:

48,281 (48,290).