Portugal Rebounds for the Red Sox

Mark Portugal knew the Fenway Park crowd would be friendlier Wednesday than the last time he pitched.

He left his kids at home.

“They were here last time. They were probably [among] the 33,000 booing me,” he said after rebounding from his worst outing of the year with his best to beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-2.

Portugal (7-8) scattered 10 hits and one earned run in 8 2/3 innings to rebound from his shortest outing in three years: a one-inning, six-run outing in which he literally fell off the mound.

Boston’s Nomar Garciaparra went three for five with two RBIs to raise his league-leading batting average to .368. Jose Offerman and Brian Daubach each reached base four times.

A pregame fire caused minor damage to the Fenway Park roof but did not delay the first pitch. Fire officials said that a worker’s blowtorch was to blame.

Bartolo Colon (10-4), who had been 4-0 with a 1.16 earned-run average since the All-Star break, gave up three runs before recording the first out. He gave up five runs on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings as Cleveland lost for only the second time in its last nine games.