June 27, 2013

G81: Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 4

Blue Jays - 000 020 020 - 4  5  0
Red Sox   - 070 000 00x - 7  9  0
Lester (7-5-4-3-5, 94) pitched seven strong innings before stumbling in the eighth inning and leaving with an apparent injury. Boston collected seven of its nine hits and all of its runs in one inning.

Wang (1.2-6-7-2-0, 45) retired the Red Sox in order in the first, but did not make it out of the second. Indeed, he threw 33 pitches in the second inning before recording an out. David Ortiz and Mike Carp both drew full-count walks. Daniel Nava singled off the Wall (1-0). Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled up the middle (2-0). Stephen Drew doubled to right on a fly ball that Jose Bautista ran too far back on and botched (3-0). Jose Iglesias beat out an infield hit to shortstop (4-0). Jacoby Ellsbury grounded a single into center (5-0). Shane Victorino grounded into a double play (boo). Dustin Pedoria socked a two-run home run to left (7-0). Reliever Aaron Loup came in and allowed a single to Ortiz before striking out Carp.

Toronto relievers then set down 15 straight Red Sox hitters until Victorino doubled with two outs in the eighth. Boston's other hit came in the eighth, when Salty doubled to left-center.

Lester did not allow a hit until the fifth inning - he walked two batters and was helped out by two double plays along the way, both hit by Edwin Encarnacion - when Melky Cabrera and Rajai Davis both singled and scored on Maicer Izturis's double.

In the top of the eighth, Lester allowed singles to the first two batters and had a 3-0 count on Emilio Bonifacio before he left the game. Junichi Tazawa retired the next three hitters, but allowed the two inherited runners to score. Koji Uehara recorded an easy save, getting a ground ball to first and striking out the final two batters.

At the halfway point in the season, the Red Sox have 48 wins, tops in the American League.
Example
Chien-Ming Wang/ Jon Lester
Ellsbury, CF
Victorino, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Carp, 1B
Nava, LF
Saltalamacchia, C
Drew, SS
Iglesias, 3B
The Red Sox lead the East by 3.5 games, their largest lead of the season. The last time they led the East by as many as 3.5 games? June 29, 2009.

Wang is a recent pickup of the Jays, and he comes into this game with a streak of 16.2 innings without allowing an earned run. In three June starts for the Jays, he has a 2.18 ERA. ... The Blue Jays have won 15 of their last 20 games, but they remain in last place, 6.5 GB the Red Sox.

Back on May 10, Lester pitched a complete game one-hitter against Toronto. ... However, over his last seven starts, Lester has a 7.30 ERA. In his last three starts, it's 9.98.

The rest of the series:
Fiday: Josh Johnson / Allen Webster, 7 PM
Saturday: Esmil Rogers / Felix Doubront, 4 PM
Sunday: Mark Buehrle / Ryan Dempster, 1:30 PM
Roster: Clayton Mortensen was activated and Pedro Beato was sent back to Pawtucket.

5 comments:

allan said...

MFY have already lost today. Texas two-hits them, 2-0. They drop to 4 GB.

allan said...

Good news on Buchholz! No structural damage.

Michael Silverman, Herald:
Buchholz says MRI showed only inflammation in bursa sac of rt shoulder. Not concerned. Will wait for no discomfort before pitching #RedSox

matthew said...

"Boston's other hit came in the ninth, when Salty doubled to left-center."

???

allan said...

Eighth.

Dr. Jeff said...

On a pace for 96 wins! Take a look at the WL contest entries again, very few were that optimistic...