Ellsbury the Hero Again; This Time, Touches 'em All (68-41)

Last night was another walk-off win, and another by Ellsbury as the Sox beat the Indians 4-3 to hold on to the AL East lead. After two quick outs in the 1st inning, a single by Adrian Gonzalez and a double by Kevin Youkilis put runners at 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. David Ortiz delivered with a line drive through to left field that scored both runners with an wrror for Austin Kearns (only 1 RBI for Papi) to make it 2-0. In the 4th inning, a leadoff homer by Jason Kipnis cut it to 2-1. Then an Asdrubal Cabrera single and a double down the right field line by Travis Hafner made it 2-2. However, the Red Sox juiced the bases in the bottom of the 4th, and a Marco Scutaro groundout netted them another lead at 3-2. It stayed 3-2 until the 7th, when after a leadoff double by Lonnie Chisenhall, Ezequiel Carrera knocked a ground-rule double into right field to tie it up at 3-3. In the 9th, Darnell McDonald and Marco Scutaro were out to lead off the inning and it left Jacoby Ellsbury up against righty Joe Smith. Smith threw a fastball outside and low and Ellsbury's wonderful uppercut swing crushed it into the center field bleachers.

Tim Wakefield was so close, he almost got win #200, and he pitched really well, allowing 3 runs in 6 2/3 innings, but it wasn't enough as he is now 6-4/4.99/58. Randy Williams with 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Jonathan Papelbon with a scoreless inning, were each very good and Papelbon got the win in his 2nd straight night. Jacoby Ellsbury went 1-5 again, but again he gets mentioned for that walk-off homer, he is now .317/18/65. Dustin Pedroia went 2-4 and Adrian Gonzalez went 2-4 with a run scored. David Ortiz went 1-3 with a run and an RBI in a good game for him. Josh Reddick went 2-2 with a walk before being pinch-hit for with Darnell McDonald (for some reason). Tonight, Erik Bedard (4-7/3.45/87 with the Mariners) will make his Red Sox debut against former Red Sox Justin Masterson (8-7/2.56/112).

Bright Spots:

Tim Wakefield- despite falling short of win #200 he pitched very well

Randy Williams- 1 1/3 scoreless innings

Jonathan Papelbon- a scoreless inning

Jacoby Ellsbury- despite only going 1-5 he hit a walk-off homer

Dustin Pedroia- 2-4

Adrian Gonzalez- 2-4 with a run scored

David Ortiz- 1-3 with a run and an RBI

Josh Reddick- 2-2 with a walk

Dull Spots:

Jarrod Saltalamacchia- 0-4 with 3 strikeouts and 3 runners left on base

Marco Scutaro- 0-4 with 4 runners left on base and an RBI

This was another great game, and the Sox are walking off on a daily basis now!