The Red Sox came into this game out of 1st place by a 1/2 a game, so if the team had any chance of grabbing first place again the Sox and Jon Lester were gonna have to get themselves a win. Lester continued his recent trend of pitching well and got a good deal of run support on his way to a win. The Sox won and the Rays lost, so the Sox are holding a tiny lead heading into the makeup game with the Rays.
The Sox grabbed the lead in the 1st inning and never looked back. Napoli hit an RBI to bring Victorino home and the Sox were leading 1-0. The Sox entended their lead to 3-0 when David Ortiz hit a 2 run HR, his 20th of the season. Papi had himself a frustrating night on Saturday that ended with him being ejected, but on Sunday he would go 4 for 4 with 2 RBIs. That's the best way to get revenge and how his bat should be used. While the Sox were busy getting him a lead, Lester was doing his part on the other side. Lester had his fastball working for him and used it to keep the Orioles off the scoreboard. Lester got himself in and out of trouble in the later innings, but he ended up pitching 7 scoreless innings in this outing. Lester did exactly what the ballclub needed from him. His pitching line for the night 99 pitches, 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB and 8 Ks.
In the top of the 8th the Sox added even more insurance runs when Salty hit a 2 run single to score Papi and Napoli. Sox 5-0. Matt Thornton, who has struggled since joining the Red Sox, took the mound in the 8th and pitched a scoreless inning. Pedro Beato took the mound in the 9th and had himself a nice 1-2-3 inning to grab the much needed win for the Sox.
Red Sox 5 Orioles 0 BOXSCORE
WP: Lester (10-6) LP: Hammel (7-8)
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