Kyle Weiland had been pitching real well down in Pawtucket so he got the start in Jon Lester’s place on Sunday. The Sox got Weiland a 2-0 lead in the first with a Ortiz single and a Reddick sac fly. However, Weiland struggled mightily in the 2nd and allowed 6 runs to score. Alredo Aceves was up and throwing in the 2nd and it looked like Weiland might be done for the day. However, Weiland battled through and stayed in the game. In the meantime, the Sox offense got back to work and had their own version of a homerun derby in the bottom of the 2nd. Marco Scutaro, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis homered in the inning and chased the O’s starter when the game was tied 6-6. The Sox took the lead in the bottom of the 4th when the O’s walked David Ortiz with the bases loaded.
Weiland would have been in line for the win, however he was ejected before he could finish the 5th. Weiland had unintentionally hit a batter earlier in the game and warnings were given to both sides. In the top of the 5th, Weiland gave up a triple to Adam Jones with no outs. Then, he hit Vlad Guerrero…also unintentionally. Weiland was ejected from the game. Then Terry Francona was ejected in his emphatic complaint about Weiland being booted.
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
Alfredo Aceves came into the game with a guy on 3rd, no outs and the Sox clinging to one run lead. Aceves did the impossible, he struck out the first two Os and then got a fly out for the third out. It was fan-freakin-tastic. Aceves pitched two more innings of scoreless relief before turning it over to Bard. Jacoby Ellsbury continued his spectacular season giving us an insurance run with his RBI single in the 7th. Bard pitched a 1-2-3 inning and then Pap shut the door with the save for the win.
Oh, and there was a wee bit more drama in 6th inning when Mike Gonzalez came in for the Os and David Ortiz came to the plate. Gonzalez threw behind David Ortiz and was immediately ejected from the game. Papi calmly just walked back towards the dugout. Buck Showalter came out and was ejected as well. Hmm, we head to Baltimore for our second series after the ASB…it’ll probably be an interesting series…for sure.
SWEEP!!! And the Red Sox head into the All Star Break on top of the division. Let’s Go Red Sox!
Red Sox 8 Orioles 6 BOXSCORE
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