Red Sox Underperform, Lose To Mediocre Pirates' Lineup (3-2)

David Ortiz hit his second homer

In a night in which many expected the Sox to overrun the Pirates, myself included, the Sox played a bad game and dropped a tough one. The Pirates scored in the first and third off Clay Buchholz-- who didn't have a great night. However, he looked more comfortable out there despite going 3 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, and a strikeout. The Red Sox never really caught up to the Pirates' fast start, despite David Ortiz (right) leading off the fourth inning with a homer to right. This pitted the Sox in a 2-1 deficit, unfortunately the fifth inning was when the game was coughed up. After a 1-2-3 fourth inning, Vicente Padilla was awful in the fifth, allowing four runs in the inning and putting the Sox behind 6-1. His final line looked like this: 2 innings, 5 hits, 4 runs. The Red Sox did score in the fifth, with Josh Kroeger doubling with two outs and Mike Aviles driving him in with a single up the middle to cut it to 6-2. Will Inman allowed a run in the seventh, but he went 2 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 3 walks and after him, the scoring stopped. The Red Sox scored once in the sixth when Dustin Pedroia singled. Pedro Ciriaco came in to pinch-run and advanced to second on a wild pitch before stealing third-- I'm telling you, this kid runs like a deer! A single into left for Cody Ross scored Ciriaco and made it a 7-3 deficit. A one out homer to left for Darnell McDonald in the 7th would finally stop everyone's scoring at 7-4. Strong innings for Michael Bowden (1 inning, no runs or hits or walks, 1 strikeout) and Brandon Duckworth (1 inning, no runs, hits, or walks, 1 strikeout) closed out the game.

Bright Spots:
Michael Bowden- 1 inning, no runs, hits, or walks, 1 strikeout
Brandon Duckworth- same as Bowden
Pedro Ciriaco- 1-2, 1 run, 1 stolen base
David Ortiz- 1-3, 1 run, 1 RBI, 1 home run
Cody Ross- 2-3, 1 RBI
Darnell McDonald- 2-2, 1 run, 1 RBI, 1 homer, 1 double

Dull Spots:
Vicente Padilla- 2 innings, 5 hits, 4 runs
Ryan Sweeney- 0-3, 1 strikeout, 1 left on base
Lars Anderson- 0-2, 1 strikeout, 1 left on base
Nate Spears- 0-2, 2 strikeouts, 1 left on base