Red Sox Officially Out Of Last After Win Over Jays (28-25)

Doubront earned his sixth
win of the year

After long last and many tribulations, the Red Sox have finally moved into sole possession of fourth place and are out of last-- also, just 2.5 games out of first. After 1-2-3 innings for both sides in the first, the Red Sox got going in the second inning. They put runners at first and third with two outs, and that's when the two out rallies began to emerge. Will Middlebrooks hit a ball off the wall in right field, but only made it to first for a single-- still, he drove a run in to make it 1-0. Nick Punto then doubled into the corner in right field to score another run and put two in scoring position with two outs. Daniel Nava appeared to have ended the inning when he lined a ball to center fielder Colby Rasmus. However, it appeared the ball was knuckling as Rasmus dropped the ball, allowing two runs to score and make it 4-0. The Blue Jays slowly began to eat away at the Red Sox lead-- starting with a one-out homer to right for Jeff Mathis in the third. However, the Red Sox would render it meaningless-- answering when Jarrod Saltalamacchia drove in a run on a double play to make it 5-1.

The whole team was happy about
getting out of last place

The Blue Jays then started a two out rally of their own in the bottom of the fifth-- putting two on base with two outs. They'd score on a bloop single by Kelly Johnson but that was it in the inning. Jose Bautista and the Blue Jays would cut it to a two-run lead when Bautista drove a home run to center to make it 5-3. Felix Doubront held the Blue Jays to three runs and was eventually was taken out in the seventh with a 6.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K line. It stayed with the score of 5-3 until the eighth, when the Red Sox loaded the bases with just one out. Ryan Sweeney would sort of deliver on a slow groundout to the first baseman. The Red Sox scored on the play but did not score again in the inning. The Blue Jays scored one in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI single by Brett Lawrie. The Red Sox came through again in the ninth when Nick Punto, of all people, crushed a ball into the second deck to make it 7-4. Alfredo Aceves had a shutdown and the Red Sox had won to move out of last.

Bright Spots:
Felix Doubront- 6.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (6-2)
Alfredo Aceves- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K, SV (14)
Daniel Nava- 1-3, 1 BB, 2 RBI
Kevin Youkilis- 1-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB
Ryan Sweeney- 1-2, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 RBI
Will Middlebrooks- 1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI
Nick Punto- 3-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI

Dull Spots:
Mike Aviles- 0-5, 2 K, 4 LOB
Adrian Gonzalez- 0-5, 1 K, 1 LOB

Player of the Game:
Nick Punto- Oddly enough, it was Punto who played the biggest part in the win today-- coming just a triple short of the cycle with a monster home run-- he is still a miserable .175/1/5 this year.