Another night playing softball, another Red Sox win.
I missed all the festivities as the Sox beat up on the dreadful Orioles (who've now dropped ten straight), but they waited until the ninth inning to lower the boom on them. It was a scoreless game until Kevin Youkilis homered in the seventh.
Daniel Bard got the Sox out of a bases loaded and one out jam in the bottom of the inning, after Jon Lester lost it and walked them full. Lester went 6 1/3 innings, allowing just four hits and striking out four. He is now 11-0 lifetime against Baltimore.
It was 2-0 in the ninth when the Sox exploded to ice it. Darnell McDonald, the red-hot Bill Hall and Youk all added two-run doubles.
The Orioles finally got on the board with two garbage time runs off Joe Nelson to make it an 8-2 Red Sox win.
The Sox have now won six of their last seven, and 29 of their last 44. They remain tied with the Blue Jays, who beat New York in 14 innings, and Tampa Bay dropped another in Texas. They trail the Rays by 3 1/2, and New York by 1 1/2 games.
The Red Sox also made a roster move earlier tonight, as they brought up Josh Reddick, as Jeremy Hermida has his ribs checked out, after slightly injuring his side with that collison he had with Adrian Beltre last night. He appears to be fine, but the Red Sox needed another outfielder just in case. Scott Atchison, who has been riding the Pawtucket Shuttle this season, had his ticket punched once again and returned to AAA.
How good is Bard? One move I like that Francona does this year is even if Papelbon is warmed up and the Red Sox score a bunch they do not pitch him. A couple years ago they would pitch him under the "just getting Papelbon some work" and invariably he would throw too many pitches and be unavailable for the next game(and in 1 case I remember 2 games)
ReplyDeleteYesterday a good day
Bard has been money this year, and Tito is smart to keep Pap out of the blowout games, even if he's warming up with the score closer at the time. This series concerned me a bit going in, as you can't take anyone, even the O's, for granted.
ReplyDeleteGreat pitching, timely hitting. Loving it, Rick!