The Red Sox hit the road to Philly to play 2 more games against the Phillies. This time it would be John Lackey vs Kyle Kendrick. Lackey was coming off two good outings and Kendrick was coming off two bad ones, however Lackey gave up one too many long balls and while the team would rally in the 9th, they would come up one run too short.
The Sox got a run from Kendrick in the 1st inning when Ellsbury did his job as the leadoff guy and hit a triple and was knocked home by a Pedey sac fly. Lackey would end up giving that run right back in the bottom of the 2nd when he gave up a solo HR to Ryan Howard. Sox 1-1. Lackey then gave up back to back solo HRs in the 4th inning to Brown and Kratz. Sox 1-3. The Sox got one of those runs back in the 6th when Daniel Nava hit a no doubt HR to right field. That was Nava's 7th HR of the year on the continuation of a great season for him. Lackey was done pitching after 6 innings since his spot in the lineup was coming up in the next inning. Lackey didn't pitch poorly, but because of the HRs he was looking down the barrel of a loss. Lackey's line for the night was 98 pitches, 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 BB and 5 Ks.
The Sox bats had opportunities in the 6th and 7th innings to tie the game, but were unable to get the timely hit with RISP. Andrew Miller came on in relief in the 7th. Miller gave up a single and issued two walks to have the bases loaded with two outs. Miller was out of the game and Uehara was in to try to get the final out of the inning. Uehara got Mayberry to pop out and no damage was done. In the 8th, Uehara was back out in the 8th and would end up giving up a leadoff HR to Brown. That was Brown's 2nd HR of the game. Sox 2-4. In the 9th, the Sox would be facing Jonathan Papelbon again. Pap didn't have his best stuff, but he had two runs to play with. Jackie Bradley Jr came in to pinch hit and Pap struck him out for the first out. Stephen Drew walked and then meant that David Ortiz came up as a pinch hitter as the tying run. Papi didn't have any luck against Pap this night either and he popped out for the 2nd out. Jonny Gomes came to the plate and hit a single. Ellsbury came to the plate and hit a blooping double to left field to plate Drew and get Gomes to third. Sox 3-4. Daniel Nava came to the plate with the tying run at 3rd base. Pap would win that battle and Nava would ground out to 1st base as the final out of the game. Papelbon made it dramatic, as we have all seen before, but in the end he still got the 3 outs he needed to give the Phillies a win and the Sox a loss.
The good news is that the Mets bashed away the Yankees, so for at least another day the Sox are still a top the AL East.
Red Sox 3 Phillies 4 BOXSCORE
WP: Kendrick (5-3) LP: Lackey (3-5) SV: Papelbon (11)
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