John Lackey gave up 3 runs in the first inning due to some poor pitching coupled with some equally poor defense. However, Lackey settled in and settled down well enough to pitch his way to another win when the Sox bats gave him the lead.
Marco Scutaro had a rough first inning. He started the game off with an error that allowed Johnny Damon to reach. He then botched two double play balls throughout the inning. In the middle of that, John Lackey was giving up hits like it was his job and the Rays scored 3 runs in the 1st inning. Not a great start to the game. Scoot said later that he broke a finger nail on the first play and that it was throbbing throughout the beginning innings of the game. His defense got much better as the game progressed, so there ya have it.
The Sox didn’t take long to take the lead back though. The bats had a Big Game against Big Game Shields. In the 2nd, Josh Reddick his a mammoth 2 run HR to cut the Rays lead to 3-2. In the 3rd, Papi had a 2 run RBI to give the Sox a 4-3 lead. JD Drew followed that with an RBI double to give the Sox a 5-3 lead. In the 4th inning, Jacoby Ellsbury hit his 13th HR of the season to give the Sox a 6-3 lead.
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Brian Blanco
Lackey continued pitching into the 6th inning. He did give up a solo HR to Matt Joyce in the bottom of the 5th. Lackey was sitting at 107 pitches in the 6th inning with 2 outs when Terry Francona came out to get him. Lackey made it clear he did not want to leave the game and wanted to finish the inning. Tito wins and Lackey is replaced by Randy Williams who was just called up from Pawtucket. Williams just needed one pitch to get the 3rd out in the 6th. Williams continued to pitch well and was relieved by Daniel Bard who continued his scoreless streak to 20.2 innings pitched.
Pedey got his 3rd HR in 3 games in the 7th inning to lead 7-4. The Sox loaded the bases with no outs in the 9th and snagged a run when Adam Russell walked Youkilis. Papi got a groundout RBI to have the Sox leading 9-4 heading into the bottom of the 9th. Papelbon created a little bit of his own drama allowed a triple and a single to score the Rays 5th run, however he K’ed BJ Upton to end the game.
Red Sox 9 Rays 5 BOXSCORE
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