John Smoltz had his best outing of the season going 5 innings and giving up just 4 hits and 1 run while striking out 7. He had plenty of run support from the Red Sox offense and left the game with a 9-1 lead.
The bullpen that had been the best part of the team for the first 1/3 of the season, again showed signs of fatigue. Masterson came in to relieve Smoltz and was awful; he gave up 5 earned runs in 1/3 of an inning. Okijima also had an off night giving up a home run and 2 other hits in 1/3 of an inning.
The bats were on fire with 2 homers by Youk and additional homers by Big Papi and Tek. Every batter but Kotsay (who had 2 walks) had a hit in the game.
Red Sox Win 15-9 BOX SCORE
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