Red Sox Toss Second Consecutive Shutout, Win Second Consecutive Ballgame (12-10)

Josh Beckett tossed five shutout

After a slump for the Red Sox-- they won their second straight game today on their second straight shutout. While Beckett was not quite as dominant as Lester was yesterday, he was pretty darn good. He struck out five and allowed just a hit (he walked three) in five shutout innings. This continued Beckett's good spring as he moved to 2-0 with an ERA of a microscopic 0.95 as he has pitched very well so far. Scott Atchison, Franklin Morales, and Mark Melancon closed out the remaining four innings. Melancon and Atchison each struck out two in 1.2 and 1.1 innings, respectively. On the offensive side, things went just as well for the Red Sox-- performing with a starting lineup we could actually see this year (no Josh Kroeger, guys!). Cody Ross banged out a three-run homer in the second inning-- his fourth of the spring, after a one-out walk by Kevin Youkilis and double by David Ortiz. This gave the Sox a 3-0 lead which stuck until Dustin Pedroia drove in Jacoby Ellsbury with a triple in the sixth inning. The Sox scored four runs in the eighth inning, highlighted by a two-run single up the middle by Mauro Gomez to end the scoring with an 8-0 lead for the Red Sox.

Bright Spots:
Josh Beckett- 5 innings, 1 hit, no runs, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts
Scott Atchison- 1.2 innings, 1 hit, no runs, 2 strikeouts
Franklin Morales- 1 inning, 1 hit, no runs
Mark Melancon- 1.1 innings, no hits, no runs, 2 strikeouts
Dustin Pedroia- 1-2, 1 run, 2 RBIs, 1 triple
Cody Ross- 1-3, 3-run homer

Dull Spots:
Mike Aviles- 0-3