Red Sox Edge Royals To Break Four Game Skid (60-66)

Lester won his third straight game

On the heels of a potentially huge night for the Red Sox, they were able to end a four game skid by knocking off a Royals in a close game. After a scoreless top half of the first, the Red Sox got going in the bottom of the first-- starting off the inning with three consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs. They would score two runs on the fourth consecutive single to start things off against Bruce Chen (9-10, 5.45), a knock by David Ortiz in his first game back from a heel injury. The second inning was scoreless all around, but the Royals struck back in the third inning on a leadoff homer over the monster by Eric Hosmer. A two out walk for Alcides Escobar set up a tie game at 2-2 when Alex Gordon hit a double to deep center to score the speedy Escobar all the way from first base.

Ortiz went 2-4 with 2 RBIs in his return

The Royals kept rolling right along in the fourth inning starting with a walk, single, and walk with one out in the inning. They'd score once on an infield single by Johnny Giavotella to give the Royals a 3-2 lead. However, Jon Lester proceeded to settle down after that and threw three scoreless innings to follow up those rough ones-- finishing the night with a line of 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 6 K. When the day was done, he had won his third straight start to get to 8-10 and 4.98 on the year. However, that was the time that the Red Sox got going-- starting with a walk and a single to lead things off. Scott Podsednik moved the runners up a base each on a sacrifice bunt and both scored when Pedro Ciriaco knocked a two-run RBI double to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead. After a couple off scoreless innings by the bullpen corps, Andrew Bailey recorded his first save as a member of the Red Sox.

Bright Spots:
Jon Lester- 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 6 K, W (8-10)
Andrew Bailey- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, SV (1)
Pedro Ciriaco- 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI
Jacoby Ellsbury- 2-4, 1 R
David Ortiz- 2-4, 1 2B, 2 RBI
Mike Aviles- 1-3, 1 R

Dull Spots:
Cody Ross- 0-4, 3 LOB

Player of the Game:
Pedro Ciriaco- Ciriaco had the big hit in this game with a two-run go ahead double in the seventh, also going 2-4 with a run-- he is now .349/1/14.