Lack Of Clutch Performance Leads To Sweep By Nats (29-31)

Other than a shaky seventh, Lester
was very good

When I predicted that the Nationals would sweep this series, I was dutifully hoping I was wrong-- however, I was dead on as the Red Sox dropped the series finale today to complete a three game sweep for Washington. The Nationals got going very early as Danny Espinosa doubled off the wall in center on the very first play of the game. He would come around to score on a groundout by Ryan Zimmerman. The Red Sox answered for that in the third inning when they put runners at the corners with one out. Dustin Pedroia nearly grounded into a double play, but he beat out the back end to tie the game at 1-1. The Sox kept rolling in the fourth, taking the lead when David Ortiz put a charge into a high fastball for a solo home run to right field.

Ortiz went 3-4 and came just a
triple short of the cycle

That score held all the way until the seventh inning, when Jon Lester allowed the Nationals to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. A strikeout and a pop out put their scoring chances in jeopardy, but a clutch double by Danny Espinosa scored both to give them a 3-2 lead. The Red Sox put two runners in scoring position with just an out in the bottom of the seventh and tied it back up on an RBI groundout by Scott Podsednik. This put things at 3-3 for the Red Sox bullpen-- Scott Atchison threw a scoreless eighth, but Alfredo Aceves got into some trouble in the ninth. Bryce Harper walked with one out and came all the way around to score on a double to right by Roger Bernadina. The Red Sox couldn't come back and fell 4-3.

Bright Spots:
Jon Lester- 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 9 K
Scott Atchison- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K
Scott Podsednik- 2-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Dustin Pedroia- 1-4, 1 BB, 1 RBI
David Ortiz- 3-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI

Dull Spots:
Alfredo Aceves- 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K, L (0-4)
Adrian Gonzalez- 0-4, 4 LOB
Jarrod Saltalamacchia- 0-4, 4 K, 2 LOB
Darnell McDonald- 0-2, 1 K, 1 LOB

Player of the Game:
David Ortiz- The offense wasn't great today, but it certainly wasn't Ortiz's fault as he came a triple short of the cycle in a 3-4 day-- he is now .308/14/38 this year.