Jon Lester didn’t have his best night tonight, however he definitely had a better one than Joe Blanton. Lester looked to get the Sox a win in hopes of being able to have a shot to take the series on Sunday.
Lester pitched 6 innings, gave up 8 H, 4 R, 1 BB and 3 Ks. He didn’t look sharp and in the later innings he was constantly letting batters on base, however not letting them come home. In that respect, he was doing a great Dice-K Houdini impression. Lester was followed by Padilla for 1.1 innings, Rich Hill for 0.1 of an inning and then Aceves came out for a 4 out save. Of course, Aceves had to make it dramatic. Aceves like the pitchers on before him seemed to always be playing with fire, however not getting burned. Aceves got the 4 outs we needed and knotched his 9th save of the season.
The bats really came to life in support of Lester and the bullpen. Mike Aviles hit a walk off HR to give the Sox an early lead. In the 2nd, the Sox added to their lead when Nava reached on an error and then Lester ground into a DP, but it allowed a run to score. Sox 3-0. In the 4th, Will Middlebrooks and Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit back to back HRs in order to add two more runs to the board. The final two runs were scored when Papi hit a 2 run HR in the 5th. Salty had himself a great night at the plate, especially since he was in the hospital getting stitches yesterday. Salty went 3 for 4 on the night. Middlebrooks also had a nice night at the plate, especially since his bat had cooled off as of late. Middlebrooks went 2 for 4 for the night.
Another big story was the defense. Adrian Gonzalez looked good over in right field. He made two running catches that I wasn’t sure he would make. All in all, I think when we have to consider it an option, Gonzo in RF is not a horrible one. The biggest play of the night was in the 7th inning when Ruiz hit what looked like a for sure hit to center field that would have scored two runs easily. However, Ryan Sweeney came out of no where and made a great diving catch. It was fan freakin’ tastic. That play was the hero play of the night.
While I’ll always love Jonathan Papelbon, I was very happy to see him not get even a chance at this game tonight. I much prefer Alfredo Aceves on the mound in the 9th.
Red Sox 7 Phillies 5 BOXSCORE
WP: Lester (3-3) LP: Blanton (4-4) SV: Aceves (9)
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