The Red Sox had to face the AL East leading Orioles not only once, but twice yesterday because of the rained out July 4th game. The Sox had Jon Lester in the day game and John Lackey in the night game. With the best starters of the Sox rotation they had a decent shot to take both games, but came up short and were only able to win the first game of the set. Lester and Lackey both pitched well, but the offense was not potent and the defense had errors in both games. Here is a short recap of both games.
Game 1 Recap
The Sox got on the scoreboard first when Stephen Drew hit a solo HR in the 2nd inning. Drew has been heavily criticized for his lack of offense and he was able to silence some of those critics yesterday. The Sox scored the second run of the inning when Holt reached by way of an infield single and then Bradley Jr scored on a throwing error from the O’s first baseman. Sox 2-0. The O’s were able to tie the game up in the 3rd when errors spelled disaster for Lester. Lester got the ground ball to end the inning, but the ball bonked out of Bogaerts glove and 2 runs score. Sox 2-2. Lester was visibly frustrated. Lester pitched 8 strong innings, but left the mound with a no decision as the offense wasn’t able to get him the go ahead run. Lester once again pitched a stellar outing and showed the Sox why they absolutely should do whatever it takes to sign him to an extension. Koji pitched an efficient 9th inning and then the Sox were able to get the win by way of a walk off in the bottom of the inning. Jonny Gomes pinch hit for Drew and got a single, Ross bunted him over to 2nd and then Herrera pinch hit for JBJ and got the walk off single to score Gomes. It was a nice, dramatic win for the Sox to start the day.
Red Sox 3 Orioles 2 BOXSCORE
WP: Uehara (4-2) LP: McFarland (1-2)
Game 2 Recap
The Sox had the chance to win this game, but it just wasn’t meant to me. The O’s scored first in the 4th inning when Hundley took Lackey deep for a 2 run HR. Sox 0-2. The Sox were not only able to tie the game, but take the lead in the bottom of the inning. Drew tied it up when he hit a 2 run HR of his own. That’s two homeruns in the span of the day for Drew. Drew was signed for his defense (which was also stellar yesterday amongst errors all around him), but his offense yesterday was definitely a plus. The Sox scored two more runs in the inning by way of a Holt RBI double and a Nava RBI single. Sox 4-2. Lackey gave up a solo HR to Nelson Cruz in the top of the 5th to have the Sox clinging to a single run. Sox 4-3. Lackey was striking out O’s batters left and right, but it left his pitch count really high and therefore he was out of the game early.
Lackey left the mound in the 6th when he gave up a single and a walk. Badenhop came in with the mission to keep the O’s from reaching home and he wasn’t successful. Badenhop gave up the game tying RBI with a single to Pearce. Sox 4-4. Badenhop then gave up RBI singles to both Jones and Cruz to have the O’s now leading 6-4. The Sox 26th man Tommy Layne came in to finish out the inning. Layne allowed one more run to score when Hardy hit a sac grounder, but was able to limit the bleeding. Sox 4-7. Unfortunately the Sox bats were not able to pick Lackey and the bullpen up and that would end up being the final score. It’s a shame that Lackey is tagged for the loss in a game where he might have been the best pitcher to be on the mound.
Red Sox 4 Orioles 7 BOXSCORE
WP: Brach (3-0) LP: Lackey (9-6) SV: Britton (13)
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