Red Sox Roughed Up By Nats In Series Opener (29-29)

Doubront had his first bad start
in a while

It appears that the Red Sox may be going in a downward spiral again as they've lost four or their last five and that continued last night. They got off to a decent start after the Red Sox put two men on base with two outs in the second inning. Both of those runners would come in when Mike Aviles hit a high fly ball that banged off the monster in center field to make it 2-0 Red Sox. Things would take a dramatic turn for the worse very quickly, however, as the Nationals put two runners in scoring position with one out in the top of the third. One would score when Ryan Zimmerman took one right back up the middle for a single to cut the Red Sox' lead to 2-1. Zimmerman and Michael Morse, who walked in the next at bat, both scored when Ian Desmond took a ball to the gap in right-center to give the Nationals a 3-2 lead. The Nationals kept going in the fourth after a leadoff double by Tyler Moore. Moore would score on a double by Danny Espinosa and Espinosa would score on a two-run homer by phenom Bryce Harper to make it 6-2.

Punto walked and scored
in the ninth

That score held for a while, but a leadoff single in the sixth by Tyler Moore put the Nationals in business. The next two hitters got out but Bryce Harper singled him in after Moore stole second base, putting the Nationals up to a commanding lead of 7-2. The Red Sox would cut the lead by a little bit in the eighth inning when Adrian Gonzalez crushed a ball in the air to deep center. As the ball fell into the stands for a solo home run, it became the 200th home run of Gonzalez's career, yet only the fifth of the season for the first baseman. The Red Sox got another small rally going in the ninth after Nick Punto walked with one out. Daniel Nava drove him in with a double to deep center to bring Punto all the way around from first base to cut it to a three-run lead for the Nationals. However, Tyler Clippard came in to pitch and got Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez to fly out harmlessly to end the game with a score of 7-4. 

Bright Spots:

Scott Atchison- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R

Andrew Miller- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R

Daniel Nava- 2-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI

Adrian Gonzalez- 2-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI

Mike Aviles- 1-3, 1 2B, 2 RBI

Dull Spots:

Felix Doubront- 4 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 6 K, L (6-3)

Matt Albers- 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 3 K

Jarrod Saltalamacchia- 0-4, 2 K, 4 LOB

Kevin Youkilis- 0-4, 3 K, 4 LOB

Player of the Game:

Adrian Gonzalez- Gonzalez had a good offensive game, going 2-5 with a double and his 200th career home run to make him .275/5/32 this year.