Red Sox Take Out Brooms To Sweep Twins (7-10)

Buchholz suffered one bad
inning last night

For once, one of my series previews actually went right-- and in a good way! The Red Sox were able to just slide by to beat the Twins last night and record their first sweep of the young season. Much as in the other games of the series-- the Red Sox got going fast last night. They scored one in the second on a bloop single to left by Cody Ross, and then scored three more in the inning when Mike Aviles took an outside slider deep to left field to bring in three runs and make it a 4-0 ballgame. Unfortunately, the Twins would come right back and score a run in the bottom of the second as Alexi Casilla drove in Ben Revere with an RBI single into left field. With a pair of runners in scoring position and two outs in the third inning, Jarrod Saltalamacchia lined a ball into right field before ensuring a second run by getting himself out in a rundown in between first and second. Then in the fourth, the Red Sox would take one more as Adrian Gonzalez drove in Dustin Pedroia-- who had gotten on base with a leadoff triple.

Dustin Pedroia came a
homer short of the cycle

Clay Buchholz had been cruising along after that little rough patch in the second inning-- but he was about to meet his end in the sixth. The Twins put runners on first and second with one out and Alexi Casilla doubled to right to score a run and move two into scoring position. Scott Atchison promptly came on to fill in for Buchholz after this. Later in the inning, the Twins would score two on an RBI single by Joe Mauer to make it 7-4.  And that's when Justin Thomas came into the game-- quickly allowing an RBI double to Justin Morneau to cut the Red Sox' lead to 7-5. Bobby Valentine continued his one and done deal and added Matt Albers to the game. Albers allowed an RBI single to Trevor Plouffe, but worked his way out of the inning-- sticking around for .2 of an inning. Vicente Padilla, Franklin Morales, and Alfredo Aceves each pitched scoreless innings to close out the game-- Aceves picked up his fourth save of the season.


Bright Spots:
Vicente Padilla- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K
Franklin Morales- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K
Alfredo Aceves- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, SV (4)
Mike Aviles- 1-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Dustin Pedroia- 3-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 3B
Adrian Gonzalez- 1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI
Jarrod Saltalamacchia- 1-4, 1 R, 2 RBI
Cody Ross- 1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI

Dull Spots:
Scott Atchison- 0.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R

Player of the Game:
Dustin Pedroia- Pedroia acted as a catalyst last night-- coming just a homer away from the cycle, going 3-4 with two runs scored on the night.