BOSTON -- It hasn't turned into a deafening roar just yet. But for the second night in a row, the Fenway faithful chanted "MVP" in the direction of Dustin Pedroia.

His spot in the batting order -- cleanup -- was very different on Saturday night, but the role of center stage was most familiar. Once again, Pedroia was a hit machine, producing four of them for the second night in a row, and leading the Red Sox to an 8-2 victory over the White Sox.

The last Red Sox player to produce four-hit efforts in back-to-back games? Hall of Famer Wade Boggs, who did it on June 8 and 10 of the 1989 season.

"If you're that good a player, or you're that hot a hitter, or you combine them both, things like that happen," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "He's a great hitter that's seeing the ball. He's covering the whole plate right now. [Friday] night he took a ball that almost hit him in the stomach and kept it fair. That's when you're feeling good."

The diminutive second baseman's latest hit parade helped make highly touted prospect Michael Bowden -- all 21 years old of him -- the winning pitcher in his first Major League start.

Bowden, demonstrating the poise that manager Terry Francona spoke of before the game, allowed seven hits and two runs over five innings, walking one and striking out three. This, on a night he was making a spot start in place of ace Josh Beckett, who is expected to be activated for a start at Texas on Friday.

"It's filling pretty big footsteps, coming behind guys like [Jon] Lester, [Clay] Buchholz," said Bowden. "Those are all great guys and they've made their mark in the big leagues and it's an honor just to follow them."

The Red Sox staked Bowden to a 5-1 lead after two innings, and the kid knew what to do with it.

"I don't care what your age is; getting runs is good," Francona said. "But he did a good job after we got the runs. He made some pitches in key spots where if they get a hit, all of a sudden the game gets tighter."

With Kevin Youkilis sidelined due to illness, Francona moved his best table-setter (Pedroia) to the heart of the batting order. Though the move was very temporary, it certainly panned out. Pedroia has now reached base in his past 10 plate appearances.

Yes, Pedroia is white hot. Not that he has any grand explanation for it.

"Not really," said Pedroia. "Just trying to get a good pitch to hit and hit it. Just trying to get on base. That's my job. Sometimes you go through times in the year where you're not very good, and then you go through times where you are good. The last couple of days I got on base every time. It's just one of those things."

In fact, Pedroia made such an impact batting fourth that White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen treated him like a true cleanup man, walking him intentionally even when trailing by six runs in the eighth.

"I never thought I would walk a jockey," quipped Guillen, who heaped enormous praise on Pedroia before the game. "I must be the worst manager ever in the history of baseball right now, walking a guy that just came from being on the top of Big Brown to beat the White Sox. Right now, he's on a roll. This guy right now is on fire."

Mark Kotsay also had a big night with the bat, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs. The Red Sox's offense had no trouble with Mark Buehrle, who gave up 11 hits and seven earned runs over 4 2/3 innings.

After Bowden cruised through his first inning, the Red Sox swiftly gave him a cushion when they came to bat. Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a double and Pedroia's single put runners at the corners with two outs. Kotsay belted a ground-rule double to the triangle area in right-center, scoring Ellsbury. Jason Bay followed with a ground-rule double down the line in right that brought in two runs to make it 3-0.

But the White Sox showed some early life. Jemaine Dye led off the second with a double to right and Alexei Ramirez roped a double to put the White Sox on the board.

Buehrle, however, wasn't much for keeping the momentum in the Chicago dugout. The Red Sox again came out swinging in the second. Jeff Bailey led off by ripping his second career home run, which just cleared the fence in center. Alex Cora followed with a single to center, setting up Ellsbury for an RBI triple to center.

For maybe the first time all day, Bowden could breathe.

"It's important for any starting pitcher, especially him, in his first start -- give him a deep breath so he can relax," Pedroia said. "He got in some tough situations, but he had presence to him and showed he could get through it. That's huge for a young guy."

The White Sox chipped the deficit to 5-2 on A.J. Pierzynski's RBI groundout in the third. And one inning later, Bowden had runners at second and third with two outs and Nick Swisher at the plate. But he didn't blink, freezing Swisher on an 86-mph changeup.

"It could have been a lot worse than it was, but I made some pitches at the right time and luckily it worked out for the best," said Bowden, an Illinois native.

"It was a little bit extra special because growing up a Cubs fan, it was special beating the White Sox," Bowden said. "For my debut, it's pretty awesome."

If one thing was clear, it was that this was not Buehrle's night. The Red Sox went in for the knockout in the bottom of the fifth. After David Ortiz legged out an infield hit, Pedroia lined a double high off the Monster. Kotsay's double to right brought home two runs, and the Red Sox had a 7-2 cushion.

It was a night Bowden won't soon forget, and yet another demonstration of what a force Pedroia has become.

MVP?

"I don't care [about the MVP]," Pedroia said. "That's great for the fans to think that, but I just try to come out and play hard every day. Hopefully we can win. That's all I care about."