Cook, Gomez Shine But Sox Fall Blow Huge Lead (60-67)

Gomez went 4-6 with 3 RBIs

Last night was just another episode in the disappointment that is the 2012 season as they blew a huge lead to fall in extras in one of the worst teams in baseball. The Royals started off hot, beginning the game with four consecutive hits. Two runs came in on Alex Gordon's double off the wall and Gordon scored on Billy Butler soft shot to right to make it 3-0 very early on. Cook held the Royals quiet in the bottom of the second and that was when the Red Sox got to work, starting with a one out solo blast to left for Mauro Gomez-- his first major league home run to cut it to 3-1. After that, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ryan Lavarnway each singled then promptly scored when Mike Aviles put one just over the green monster for a three-run homer to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead. However, the Red Sox were far from done as they loaded the bases with no outs in the third. They scored three-- two on an error by Jeremy Guthrie and one on a sacrifice fly by Jarrod Saltalamacchia to make it 7-3.

Ross had an RBI single

The Red Sox still weren't done though as they put runners at the corners and two outs in the fourth inning. They wound up scoring two runs on RBI singles by Cody Ross and Mauro Gomez to give them a commanding 9-3 lead. Aaron Cook held it there for the next few innings, but when he turned it to the bullpen for the seventh, things got ugly. The Royals loaded the bases on a hit and two walks with one out off Andrew Miller. Miller allowed two to score on an RBI single by Alex Gordon before being pulled for Mark Melancon. Melancon allowed two more runs to come in on a double by Billy Butler and a single for Salvador Perez. Finally, Craig Breslow came in and allowed the inevitable game tying two-run triple that make it 9-9. It stayed there all the way until the twelfth inning when the Royals took a run on an RBI single for Tony Abreu and that was basically it.

Bright Spots:
Aaron Cook- 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 BB
Craig Breslow- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, K
Andrew Bailey- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R
Vicente Padilla- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K
Scott Podsednik- 2-6
Jacoby Ellsbury- 2-5, 2 R, 1 2B
Cody Ross- 3-5, 1 R, 1 RBI
Mauro Gomez- 4-6, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Jarrod Saltalamacchia- 2-5, 1 R, 1 RBI
Ryan Lavarnway- 2-4, 1 R, 1 BB
Mike Aviles- 2-6, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Pedro Ciriaco- 2-5, 1 R

Dull Spots:
Andrew Miller- 0.2 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 1 K
Mark Melancon- 0.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R

Player of the Game:
Mauro Gomez- In his first game filling in for the traded Gonzalez, Gomez was fantastic-- driving in three and hitting his first MLB home run in a 4-6 day-- he is now .318/1/6.