The Red Sox had their first postseason game since 2009 this afternoon and it was long overdue. The Sox had ace Jon Lester on the mound vs. rookie phenom Matt Moore. Lester went down early, but when the Sox offense got him the lead back he coasted the team to their first win of the postseason.
Lester started the game by striking out the side in the 1st inning. He looked sharp and in control. However, in the 2nd Lester gave up an early lead when he gave up a solo HR to Sean Rodriguez. Sox 0-1. Lester gave up his 2nd and final run of his outing in the 4th inning when he gave up another solo HR, this time to Zobrist. Sox 0-2. Lester wasn't pitching poorly, but on the other side Matt Moore hadn't given up a hit. Soon enough though, Moore would not only give up hits, but runs.
Pedey got the first hit of the day for the Sox with a single to start the inning. Then the most talked and laughed about play happened when Papi hit a ball to the warning track which Wil Myers seemed to be ready to catch, but then he just backed off it. It ended up being a ground rule double to have Pedey hitting at 3rd with no outs. Jonny Gomes hit a 2 RBI double to score Pedey and Papi to tie the game. Stephen Drew reached just barely on an infield single as Gomes headed home to give Boston the lead. To finish off the inning Middlebrooks hit an RBI double and Victorino hit an RBI single. Sox 5-2. Suddenly this game has a very different feel to it and Jon Lester was definitely breathing new life. Lester just rolled after he got the lead back, while the Sox offense continued to punish the Rays pitching. In the 5th, Salty hit a 2 RBI double to have the Sox leading 7-2. Then the Rays intentionally walked Middlebrooks to get to Ellsbury and Ells made them pay by hitting an RBI single. Sox 8-2. While the Sox were scoring runs, Lester kept the Rays off the scoreboard. Lester pitched into the 8th inning and was done after getting 2 outs. Lester looked completely comfortable on the big stage and tipped his hat to the Fenway crowd on his way back in the dugout. Lester's pitching line for the night was 114 pitches, 7.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB and 7 Ks. After the 2 homeruns Lester only gave up one more hit in his outing. That's pretty impressive.
Tazawa came out in the 8th and got the final out of the inning when Wil Myers to fly out to Victorino in right field. The Sox bats weren't done and kept punishing the Rays pitching in the bottom of the inning. Ellsbury got on, stole 2nd and then came home by way of a Victorino RBI single. Then with the bases loaded, Napoli got a walk to put another run on the board. Gomes hit into a double play, but Pedey still scored from 3rd and the final run of the game was scored when Salty hit an RBI single to score Papi. Sox 12-2. Wowza. Ryan Dempster came out of the bullpen to finish the game off. Dempster gave up a triple with only one out, but he didn't allow the run to score in route to the Sox's first win of the playoffs.
Red Sox 12 Rays 2 BOXSCORE
WP: Lester (1-0) LP: Moore (0-1)
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