Josh Beckett hurled a complete game shutout while Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz both hit homeruns to seal the opening game in the ALCS against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 4-0.
Beckett (1-0) struck out eight and walked none while retiring 19 consecutive batters en route to another playoff shutout (three in the playoffs) and making his bid for the Cy Young award look a lot better.
The Red Sox ace has an 18 innings scoreless streak in the post season dating back to his last post season start four years ago.
Following an inning where Beckett stranded Chone Figgins at third base, Kevin Youkilis, hit a solo-homerun into the Monster Seats off of Angels starter John Lackey (0-1) in the bottom of the first inning giving Boston a 1-0 lead.
After a Youkilis double to deep left field in the bottom third, Ortiz notched his first post season homerun off of Lackey wrapping the ball around Pesky’s Pole bringing it to 3-0. Mike Lowell added to the score with an RBI single to center that scored Manny Ramirez who reached on a walk and a wild pitch by Lackey.
Lackey pitched for 6 innings, giving up 9 hits, four runs, two walks, while striking out four. Lackey is 0-3 on the season (inlcuding this game) against the Boston Red Sox.
Daisuke Matsuzaka will face Kelvim Escobar in Game 2 on Friday.
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