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, tonight.

Boston's left fielder 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 his position in the outfield, Ramirez waved to thousands of Boston fans among the 48,281 at Camden Yards. Although it was a road game for the Red Sox, at least the seats were filled with Boston backers, and virtually everyone in the ballpark took delight in seeing history made.

The 500-home run club has only two dozen members, but Ramirez also joined an even smaller fraternity. He is only the seventh player in baseball history 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.

Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia also homered for the Red Sox, and Jacoby Ellsbury stole three bases in a second straight game. Ellsbury also tripled in the seventh off Lance Cormier (0-2) and scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Ortiz before Bradford entered to face Ramirez.

Bradford had allowed only two home runs since May 14, 2006.

In the ninth inning, Ortiz hurt his left hand while swinging at a pitch and left the game. One batter later, Ramirez popped out to finish 1-for-5. But that one hit was a whopper.

Pitching for the second time since his no-hitter on May 19 against Kansas City, Boston's Jon Lester allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings. His run of four starts without yielding a home run ended when Brian Roberts connected in the fifth to give Baltimore a 3-2 lead.

Lester was replaced by David Aardsma (2-1), who pitched two scoreless innings. Jonathan Papelbon worked the ninth for his 16th save.