Red Sox Rally Late, Stay In First (83-52)

Last night, the Red Sox played a roller-coaster game and wound up winning 9-5 to keep them in 1st place. With Eduardo Nunez on 2nd and 2 outs in the 3rd inning, derek Jeter blooped a ball to center field that deflected off Jacoby Ellsbury's glove for an RBI single. However, in the bottom of the 3rd, the Sox led off the inning with a single and a double, and a groundout by Dustin Pedroia tied the game up. Later in the inning, Jed Lowrie lined a ball hard down the 1st base line to give the Sox a 2-1 lead. With 2 outs, in the 5th, Adrian Gonzalez singled, and David Ortiz quickly drove him and himself home with a no-doubter home run to center field. Mark Teixeira was hit to lead off the 6th, and after a wild pitch put him on 2nd, Robinson Cano doubled him home to make it 4-2. After a Nick Swisher walk, Eric Chavez lined a ball down the 1st base line and into the corner, Josh Reddick couldn't handle it and two runs scored. Later in the inning, another run scored as Eduardo Nunez hit a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 5-4 Yankees. After Josh Reddick walked with 1 out in the 6th, Jason Varitek hit a perfectly placed ground ball down the 3rd base line, where Reddick would dash around all the bases and score to tie it at 5-5. Soon after, Jacoby Ellsbury crushed one, a 2-run homer that would give the Sox a 7-5 lead. In the 9th inning, Josh reddick led off the inning with a double, and he was quickly brought home as Jason Varitek homered to make it 9-5.
     Josh Beckett was pretty good up until the 6th inning, and total he allowed 5 runs, 4 earned, in 7 innings as he is now 12-5/2.54/149. Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon closed it out with an inning each and the game was in the bag. Jacoby Ellsbury (left) had a good game, going 2-5 with 2 runs and the 2-run homer, as he is now .313/24/84. Dustin Pedroia went 2-5 with an RBI in a good game for him. David Ortiz went 1-3 with that important 2-run homer, as he is now .313/28/88. Jed Lowrie went 1-3 with an RBI in a good day. Josh Reddick went 1-3 with 2 runs scored in a good day for him. Jason Varitek had a great day, going 2-4 with 2 runs and 3 RBIs, including a 2-run homer, as he is now .240/10/32, as he is having a decent year for a backup catcher. Tonight, the Sox will look for a series win with Jon Lester (14-6/3.09/150) going against A.J. Burnett (9-11/5.31/137).

Bright Spots:
Daniel Bard- a scoreless inning
Jonathan Papelbon- a scoreless inning
Jacoby Ellsbury- 2-5 with 2 runs and a 2-run homer
Dustin Pedroia- 2-5 with an RBI
David Ortiz- 1-3 with a 2-run homer
Jed Lowrie- 1-3 with an important RBI
Josh Reddick- 1-3 with 2 runs scored
Jason Varitek- 2-4 with 2 runs and 3 RBIs, including a 2-run homer

Dull Spots:
Nobody!

This was a good game for the Sox, and I'm very glad they won!