The Red Sox spent yesterday hanging out at The White House, but today it was back to work against the Orioles. It was John Lackey vs. new acquired O’s pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez. Lackey had himself a strong start and unlike Lester, he got some run support form the Sox bats. The Sox were able to officially get their first win of the 2014 season.
The Sox cracked the scoreboard first when David Ortiz hit the ball out of Camden Yards for a 2 run homerun. Sox 2-0. It was Papi’s first homerun of the season, hopefully of many. Lackey cruised through the first 3 innings, but didn’t have the same luck in the 4th. Lackey walked Chris Davis on 4 pitches and then Nelson Cruz tagged him for a 2 run HR to tie the game. Sox 2-2. Lackey threw 35 pitches in the first 3 innings and then needed 35 just to get out of the 4th. Lackey was able to limit the damage to 2 runs and got out of the inning.
In the top of the 5th, Mike Napoli didn’t take long before he put Lackey back in line for the win. Nap hit a towering 2 run HR to centerfield to have the Sox up 4-2. Lackey settled down and got through 6 innings even with the shaky 4th. Lackey’s pitching line for the night was 90 pitches, 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB and 6 Ks. The Sox tacked on some insurance runs in the 7th inning when the O’s decided to intentional walk Papi in order to get to Napoli, you know the guy that took the ball out of the park the last time he was at the plate. Napoli made the O’s pay with a 2 run RBI single. Sox 6-2.
Edward Mujica came in and pitched a scoreless 7th before handing the ball over to Tazawa who pitched a scoreless 8th inning. Even though it was not a save situation, Koji Uehara came into the game in the 9th and notched down the first Sox win of the season. The pitching was stellar, but the offense really was on fire tonight. Pedey went 4 for 5 tonight and Papi and Nap both hit the ball out of the park. It’s nice to see that potent offense again.
Red Sox 6 Orioles 2 BOXSCORE
WP: Lackey (1-0) LP: Jimenez (0-1)
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