The Red Sox came home after winning a series against the White Sox in hopes of finding some success at the friendly confines of Fenway. The Sox had John Lackey on the mound against Chris Tillman of the O’s. The Red Sox always seem to have issues with the Orioles and it would hold true tonight. Lackey struggled and the offense continued to have issues getting numbers on the scoreboard.
Lackey gave up a single run in the 1st inning on a play that was made controversial because of the new replay rules. It was ruled that Lackey gave up a double to Markakis, however it was reviewed since it looked like the ball might have been foul. The replay showed from a variety of angles that the ball was in fact foul, however they ruled that the play would not be overturned and it was a double. I am a fan of having replay, but not if it doesn’t mean the play is still not called correctly. After the double, Lackey gave up an RBI single to Jones. Sox 0-1.
Lackey continued to have problems in the 3rd inning when he gave up an RBI double to Markakis and a 2 run RBI single to Cruz. Sox 0-4. This definitely didn’t seem like Lack’s night. The Red Sox got on the scoreboard for the first time in the evening in the bottom of the 4th inning when newly called up Brock Holt hit an RBI single to score Mike Carp. Sox 1-4. Unfortunately Lackey gave that run and more right back in the 5th inning. Lackey gave up RBI singles to Wieters and Hardy to have the Sox trailing 1-6. The Sox bats were able to get those runs back in the bottom of the inning when Pedey and Pierzynski both hit RBI singles. Sox 3-6. Lackey took the mound in the 6th but after throwing a wild pitch and walking a batter he was out of the game and Andrew Miller was in. Lackey’s pitching line for the night was 100 pitches, 5.1 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 4 BB and 6 Ks. This is the second start in a row where Lackey has look downright hittable at times.
Miller got the 2 outs to finish off the 6th inning and handed the ball over to Burke Badenhop in the 7th. Badenhop wasn’t able to stop the bleeding though and allowed an RBI double to Schoop to have the O’s leading 7-3. Napoli started the 7th inning with a wall ball double and is brought home by an RBI single by Xander Bogaerts. Xander did try to leg out the single into a double and was thrown out at 2nd base. Sox 4-7. Badenhop took the mound for the 8th and pitched a scoreless 1-2-3 inning.
The instant replays came into the game again in the bottom of the 8th when Brock Holt hit a ball to the infield and in a bang bang play was called out at 1st. Farrell asked for a review and the umpires agree. The Sox finally won a review and Brock Holt was correctly called safe. The Sox weren’t able to bring him home and stranded Holt at 2nd base. Mujica pitched the 9th and allowed the Orioles to add to their lead. Mujica gave up double to Schoop to have the O’s leading 8-4. The Sox weren’t able to rally in the 9th and dropped the first game of the series.
Red Sox 4 Orioles 8 BOXSCORE
WP: Tillman (2-1) LP: Lackey (2-2) SV: O’Day (1)
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
