Thursday, August 14, 2008

The Bullpen Makes an Easy Win Interesting

The Red Sox jumped out to a big lead once again last night, and with Jon Lester on the mound, it looked fairly secure.

It was 8-0 and the Sox were cruising in the 8th. But Lester gave up a solo home run to Ian Kinsler with one out. The next two men reached and that was the end of the night for Jon. He was superb, giving the bullpen a rest. But Mike Timlin looked extremely hittable, and served up a big fat fastball to Milton Bradley which he sent into the rightfield bleachers to make it 8-4. He also allowed a double before getting the second out. Javier Lopez threw one pitch to end the 8th.

Justin Masterson put the first two on in the 9th before getting a DP and foul out to end the game, 8-4. Seeing the bullpen whittling down another big lead once again made me nervous.

The Red Sox jumped all over Texas starter Luis Mendoza early, and it was 8-0 by the fifth inning. Kevin Youkilis continued his very hot hitting, getting three doubles, and Jed Lowrie had another clutch double to drive in two.

The Red Sox also had some bad news, as Mike Lowell was put on the DL with an oblique strain he suffered on Tuesday night. Hopefully it will just sideline him until the end of the month. Youk will probably be spending much more time at third, with Sean Casey filling in at first.

The Sox also recalled 1B/OF Jeff Bailey and pitcher David Pauley from Pawtucket. They also announced that Clay Buchholz will stay and start on Sunday against Toronto.

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