Red Sox Edge Tigers On Late Homer By Ortiz (30-22)

Today, the Red Sox beat the Tigers 4-3, in a close game decided by lots of home runs. The Red Sox put runners at first and third to start the game in the 1st inning, and took first blood on a sacrifice fly by Adrian Gonzalez. In the 2nd inning, Mike Cameron lined a ball deep to left field for a solo home run to make it 2-0 Red Sox. Then, in the 3rd inning, Dustin Pedroia crushed a home run way back to left field, also solo, to make it 3-0 Red Sox. In the 4th, the Tigers got one back as Andy Dirks crushed a home run to deep right to make it 3-1 Red Sox. Then in the 6th, Brennan Boesch killed a ball a long way to right field to cut the lead to 3-2. Later in the inning, when Miguel Cabrera was on third with 2 outs, Jhonny Peralta singled him in to make it 3-3. In the 9th, the Red Sox pinch-hit David Ortiz for Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Ortiz promptly lined a home run to right-center field to give the Sox a 4-3 lead.

Clay Buchholz was pretty good for much of the game, but things got out of hand in the 6th, and he left with 3 earned runs in 6 innings. He got a no-decision, and is now 4-3/3.41/44, as he has been very good this year. The win went to Matt Albers, who pitched 2 scoreless innings before a scoreless one by Jonathan Papelbon, who earned his 10th save of the year. Dustin Pedroia went 1-4 with a home run, as he is now .247/4/16, after a very rough start. Jed Lowrie went 2-4, but had nothing to show for it, as he pushed the batting average to .306 this year. Mike Cameron actually had a very good game, going 2-2 with that solo home run, as he is now .200/3/7 this year. David Ortiz, of course, had the key hit coming off the bench with a go-ahead home run, his 11th of the year. Later, in Game 2 of the double header, Josh Beckett (4-1/1.69/58) and Justin Verlander (4-3/3.42/73) will square off.

Bright Spots:

Matt Albers- 2 scoreless innings and the win

Jonathan Papelbon- his 10th save of the year with a scoreless inning

Dustin Pedroia- 1-4 with a solo home run

Jed Lowrie- 2-4

Mike Cameron- 2-2 with a solo home run

David Ortiz- What else!

Dull Spots:

Kevin Youkilis- 0-3 with a strikeout

Carl Crawford- 0-4 with 2 strikeouts

Drew Sutton- 0-4

Jarrod Saltalamacchia- 0-3 with 2 runners left on base

I'm glad the Sox won, don't get me wrong, but this was kind of a sloppy game in my opinion.