It is safe to say going into the game that Josh Beckett vs Jake Peavy was the best piching matchup of season. Well, Beckett was the better pitcher in this game beating a good Peavy with down right filthy stuff in the 4-2 win.
Beckett’s first inning which went 1-2-3 with two strikeouts was an indication of his day to come. Easily throwing 97 mph with great movement on his curveball and two-seam fastball Beckett looked primed to have a good outting.
On the historical side, the Beckett-Peavy bill was just the third in history where in which two opposing starters each had nine wins or more and had one or fewer losses.
The Red Sox ace is the first pitcher in the MLB to reach 11 wins by throwing 8 innings, on six hits, and eight strikeouts in his performance. Beckett let up two earned runs and only gave up one base on balls and the reason for his plain dominance was that he held the Padres 1-2-3 batters in check.
Jose Cruz, Jr., Michael Barrett, and Adrian Gonzalez went 0-12 and struck out six times combined.
While Beckett was looking like the pitcher who deserves the starting role in this year’s All-Star game, Peavy was not doing so badly himself.
Peavy only lasted 5 innings, giving up nine hits, three earned runs, one walk, and three strikeouts. Boston (48-26) got to Peavy by making him pitch, a lot, as he threw 111 pitches in the game.
The biggest inning for the Red Sox, where in which they scored three runs, was when they made Peavy work hard throwing 38 pitches.
David Ortiz knocked in his 47th RBI on a single scoring Coco Crisp, Manny Ramirez followed with a sacrifice fly, and Mike Lowell’s RBI single to right made the score 3-0.
Beckett’s first run came in the fifth on an two-RBI double by Terrmel Sledge bring the game closer at 3-2.
Boston added an insurance run in the eighth inning on Jason Varitek’s eighth homerun of the season giving them a two-run lead at 4-2. Varitek also had a triple in the game against Peavy.
Jonathan Papelbon came into the ninth and saved his 18th save of the season on two strikeouts and a ground out to second base.
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