The Red Sox headed into the final game of the season with everything they wanted all locked up. Clinch a playoff berth. Check. Clinch the AL East. Check. Clinch the best record in the AL. Check. The Sox initially slated John Lackey on the mound, but decided to give the start to Allen Webster in a game that didn't have much important for the Sox.
The Sox offense got on the board before Webster even made it to the mound. The Sox scored 2 runs in the top of the first when Ells hit a leadoff homerun and then Mike Carp hit an RBI groundout to score Papi. Sox 2-0. Webster was shaky out of the start by walking 3 people in the inning. Amazingly Webster got out of the inning without allowing a run to score. In the 2nd, Quintin Berry hit a 2 run HR. Sox 4-0. In the 4th the Sox scored their 5th run when Ellsbury hit an infield single and Salty scored on the error. Sox 5-0. The Sox seemed to be coasting along, however the game was far from over.
Webster was done after 3 innings and Felix Doubront came out of the bullpen for the first time in years. All in all, his bullpen audition did not go well. Doubront pitched a scoreless 4th inning, but found all kinds of trouble in the 5th inning. Doubront ended up allowing the Orioles to tie the game in the 5th before being pulled. Doubront gave up a 2 run RBI double to Hardy, an RBI single to Flaherty and 2 run RBI double to McLouth. Sox 5-5. Rubby De La Rosa came in and got the two outs needed to get out of the inning with the Sox still holding the tie. The Sox had the bases loaded in the 6th inning, but were unable to capitalize when Papi groundout to end the inning. In the bottom of the 6th Matt Thornton took the mound for the Sox and ending up giving up the go ahead run when Schoop scored on a wild pitch. The O's grabbed another run when Ryan Dempster came into the game and gave up an RBI double to Flaherty. Sox 5-7. Breslow pitched a scoreless 8th and Uehara pitched a scoreless 9th, so it would come down to the Sox bats in the bottom of the inning. The Sox put up a fight, but came up just short. Mike Napoli hit an RBI single to bring the Sox within a run. The Sox had a runner at 3rd and one out, but were unable to tie the game when Middlebrooks hit into a game ending double play.
Red Sox 6 Orioles 7 BOXSCORE
WP: McFarland (4-1) LP: De La Rosa (0-2) SV: Johnson (50)
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