Bard Blows Late Lead As Sox Can't Hold On (86-62)

Today, the Sox played a tough game, as they blew a lead to fall to the Blue Jays. With two outs and runners at first and second for the Blue Jays, they scored twice on back-to-back singles by Edwin Encarnacion and Kelly Johnson. After two straight singles to start the 2nd inning, Dustin Pedroia scored on an error by Brett Lawrie on a grounder by Ryan Lavarnway. Later in the inning, Kevin Youkilis scored on a ground ball by Jason Varitek to tie it up at 2-2. After a leadoff triple in the 4th inning, Jacoby Ellsbury scored on a sacrifice fly on a liner to left by Marco Scutaro. Adrian Gonzalez led off the 6th inning with a home run to make it 4-2. The Blue Jays put runners at 1st and 2nd with 1 out in the 8th inning. A ground out by J.P. Arencibia would make it 4-3, but then came the big blow. Adam Loewen singled to center field to score two and give the Blue Jays a 5-4 lead.

     John Lackey was actually decent, allowing 2 runs in 5 1/3 innings, as he is now 12-12/6.19/101. He was relieved by Franklin Morales and Alfredo Aceves, who were each scoreless through 2/3 of an inning and an inning, respectively. Daniel Bard then allowed 3 runs on 1 hit in 1 inning for the loss, and Jonathan Papelbon closed it out with a scoreless inning. Marco Scutaro had a good game, going 1-3 with an RBI. Adrian Gonzalez (left) went 1-3 with a solo home run, as he is now .340/26/110, as he is having a great season. Tomorrow, the Rays will come to town for a crucial series that could determine the wild card spot. In the opener of that series, Kyle Weiland (0-1/6.75/5) will go for his 4th career start against Jeremy Hellickson (12-10/2.96/109).

Bright Spots:
John Lackey- 2 runs in 5 1/3 innings
Alfredo Aceves- a scoreless inning
Jonathan Papelbon- a scoreless inning
Marco Scutaro- 1-3 with an RBI
Adrian Gonzalez- 1-3 with a solo home run

Dull Spots:
Daniel Bard- 3 runs in an inning for the loss
Carl Crawford- 0-4 with 2 strikeouts and 4 LOB

This wasn't a fun game to watch, as we really blew a lead.