Beckett Dominates As Sox Shut Out Mariners (17-19)

Beckett struck out nine in
seven shutout innings

The Red Sox continue to play well of late as they extended their winning streak to a season high five games. The first pair of innings were scoreless for both sides as both Josh Beckett and Blake Beavan were pitching very well. However, the Sox finally got on the board in the bottom of the third inning when David Ortiz took a 3-2 fastball down the middle and hammered it to right for a home run-- his eighth of the year-- to make it 1-0 Red Sox. Once the momentum was in their favor, the Red Sox just kept right on going in the fourth inning. After a Jarrod Saltalamacchia flyout to start the inning, a Cody Ross walk and Daniel Nava single put runners at the corners with one away. Mike Aviles came up and, on the first pitch, lined the ball over second baseman Dustin Ackley's head and into the gap for a double that would score Ross, and put a pair of runners in scoring position. Ryan Sweeney then grounded out to make it two outs, and score the runs-- but that would be the last the Sox would score in the inning, leaving with a 3-0 lead.

David Ortiz had his eighth home run
of the season yesterday

As things turned out, the fourth inning was also Beavan's last as the Sox chased him from the game with a 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 4 K line. Charlie Furbush came into the game, and David Ortiz welcomed him with a leadoff single. Adrian Gonzalez advanced him to second on a ground ball to first, and a wild pitch would put Papi at third with one out for Will Middlebrooks. Middlebrooks took a low slider and belted it off the bottom of the monster for an RBI single to make it 4-0. The next several innings were scoreless, and it was still 4-0 when Josh Beckett was removed from the game with a 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K. The Red Sox got another run in the eighth on Mike Aviles' second RBI double of the game, but it was meaningless as the Sox won 5-0.

Bright Spots:
Josh Beckett- 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K, W (3-4)
Rich Hill- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R
Alfredo Aceves- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K
David Ortiz- 2-3, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Will Middlebrooks- 1-4, 1 RBI
Jarrod Saltalamacchia- 2-4, 1 R
Daniel Nava- 1-3, 1 R
Mike Aviles- 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI

Dull Spots:
Ryan Sweeney- 0-5, 2 K, 4 LOB, 1 RBI

Player of the Game:
Josh Beckett- Beckett pitched a fantastic ballgame yesterday, striking out nine in seven shutout innings-- he is now 3-4/4.97/35 on the season.