Red Sox Unable To Sweep Jays In Finale (28-26)

Bard had a miserable outing

This was a very disappointing game as the Red Sox fell to the Blue Jays despite not allowing any runs after the second inning. As you may imagine based on that, the Blue Jays got off to a very fast start. Daniel Bard continued his control issues by walking Kelly Johnson and Yunel Escobar to start the game. He ran it to a full count on Jose Bautista and an eight pitch at bat before Bautista ran into a high fastball and crushed a no-doubter to left field to give the Blue Jays an early 3-0 lead. Bard would get out of the first with that score intact but not without a cost as he threw 28 pitches in the first inning. The second inning was just as bad as the first as Bard walked the first two batters in the inning, got outs on the next two, then hit a batter to load the bases with two outs. He walked Jose Bautista to bring a run in and then hit Edwin Encarnacion to bring a run in and make it 5-0. All of Red Sox Nation and Bobby Valentine saw Bard did not have his best stuff and Valentine pulled Bard after just 1.2 innings.

Shoppach had his third homer

Franklin Morales came in and had a fantastic outing by all perspectives. He really kept the Red Sox in the game and pitched until the sixth-- his final line was 4.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 K as he lowered his ERA to 3.48 on the season. The Red Sox got on the board for the first and only time in the fifth inning when Kelly Shoppach drove a fastball to right-center for a solo home run to cut the Blue Jays' lead to 5-1. The Red Sox relief corps did their best to keep the Red Sox in the game, with Scott Atchison and Rich Hill working a scoreless eighth and ninth, respectively. However, Blue Jays' rookie Drew Hutchison was just too good for Boston. He worked 7 strong innings, allowing a run on five innings and striking out five over that span. Hutchison is coming off a good start against the Orioles and is only 21 as the Jays' appear to have found something special in the righty. It was interesting to watch Hutchison but I obviously would have preferred a win.

Bright Spots:
Franklin Morales- 4.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 K
Scott Atchison- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 K
Mike Aviles- 2-4
Kelly Shoppach- 1-2, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI

Dull Spots:
Daniel Bard- 1.2 IP, 1 H, 5 R, 6 BB, 2 K, L (5-6)
David Ortiz- 0-4, 2 K, 1 LOB
Kevin Youkilis- 0-3, 2 K
Ryan Sweeney- 0-4, 1 K, 1 LOB

Player of the Game:
Franklin Morales- Morales did a great job in relief, going above and beyond the call of duty by working 4.1 scoreless innings of relief-- he is now 0-1/3.48/17 this year.