Middlebrooks Powers Sox To Snap Skid (12-16)

Doubront earned the win to
become 2-1 last night

After a five game losing skid, the Red Sox were playing entirely the right team last night in the Royals, and they showed it. With one out in the first, Dustin Pedroia walked and David Ortiz singled up the middle. After a Cody Ross strikeout, Adrian Gonzalez delivered with a bloop single up the middle which fell to make it 1-0 Red Sox. Will Middlebrooks came up and, on the first pitch, saw a high-outside fastball-- and he went with it, lining it around the pole in right for a three-run homer to make it 4-0 Red Sox in just the first inning. After a scoreless first for Felix Doubront, he ran into a bit of trouble in the second when a walk to Jeff Francoeur and a double for Mike Moustakas with no outs put the Royals in good position to score. As it turned out, Doubront minimized the damage, only allowed an RBI groundout to Brayan Pena and a sacrifice fly to Chris Getz, cutting the lead to 4-2. David Ortiz led off the third with a bomb to right field, but that would be all the Red Sox would get in that inning and the Royals began to come back.

Will Middlebrooks had
the second and third home
runs of his career last night

Jarrod Dyson started off the bottom of the third with a bunt single and would score a batter later on an errant throw by Will Middlebrooks-- the Royals would score another in the inning on an RBI groundout to make it 5-4. Kelly Shoppach tripled off the wall in left to start the fourth-- knocking Jonathan Sanchez out of the game with a line of 3+ IP, 6 H, 6 R, 3 BB, 3 K. Shoppach would later score when Dustin Pedroia put one in the bleachers to make it 7-4. The next several innings were scoreless for both sides, but the Royals loaded the bases in the seventh-- scoring on a walk to Alex Gordon and knocking Doubront from the game with a line of 6.1 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K-- he would win the game and become 2-1. In the eighth, however, the Sox more than answered for the seventh--putting runners on first and second with one out. Cody Ross delivered in that spot with a double off the wall in center to score two runs. Will Middlebrooks answered with his second home run off the game off the pole in left field. It's always nice to have a commanding win like this one, 11-5.

Bright Spots:
Vicente Padilla- 2.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 K
Dustin Pedroia- 2-3, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI
David Ortiz- 3-4, 3 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Cody Ross- 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Adrian Gonzalez- 2-5, 1 R, 1 RBI
Will Middlebrooks- 3-5, 2 R, 2 HR, 5 RBI

Dull Spots:
Nobody!

Player of the Game:
Will Middlebrooks- Middlebrooks had a huge game last night, starting things off in the first and putting things away in the eighth with a pair of big home runs.