Red Sox Drop Series Opener In Extras (62-38)

Last night, the Red Sox lost a tough one on a rainy night at Fenway. Already delayed by rain, the game lasted into extra innings as well, and it went late in a 3-1 loss to the Royals. In the 2nd, the Red Sox took an early lead when Carl Crawford scored on a double by Josh Reddick, making it 1-0. In the 6th, the Royals tied it when Melky Cabrera scored on a double by Billy Butler. It stayed deadlocked at 1-1 until the 14th inning when Eric Hosmer scored on a safety squeeze by Mike Aviles to make it 2-1. Later in the inning, Jeff Franceour scored on a sacrifice fly by Alcides Escobar to make it 3-1 Royals.

Jon Lester was pretty good in his return, allowing just 1 run in 5 1/3 innings as he is now 10-4/3.23/116, as he is having a good season. Everybody in the bullpen (Albers, Bard, Papelbon, Morales, Wheeler) did very well with 6 2/3 shutout innings, except for Randy Williams, who gave up 2 runs in 2 innings to earn the loss, despite lowering his ERA to 11.25 (he hasn't been good). Adrian Gonzalez had a good game at 2-6 despite 3 strikeouts. David Ortiz did a very good job of getting on base, going 2-4 with 2 walks, that'll raise the OBP! Josh Reddick went 3-6 with an RBI and a double in a good day for him, he's been great, we don't need to get another right fielder in my opinion. Marco Scutaro (left) went 2-6, as he is having an average season at .262/5/17. Tonight's pitchers are Andrew Miller (4-1/4.65/16) and Danny Duffy (2-4/4.58/49) in the 2nd game of the series.

Bright Spots:

Jon Lester- 1 run in 5 1/3 innings in his return to the league

The Bullpen except Randy Williams- 6 2/3 shutout innings

Josh Reddick- 3-6 with an RBI double

Marco Scutaro- 2-6

Dull Spots:

Randy Williams- 2 runs in 2 innings along with the loss

Kevin Youkilis- 0-3

Dustin Pedroia- 1-6 with 4 runners left on base

Carl Crawford- 0-6 with 4 strikeouts and 6 runners left on base

Jarrod Saltalamacchia- 1-6 with 2 strikeouts and 3 runners left on base

This was a tough loss, but Francona should have put Aceves in, that way he would have used less arms in the bullpen.