Anderson's Slam Leads Sox Over Twins (1-0)

Anderson hit a grand slam today

After such a long winter, the Red Sox are finally back to playing real major league opponents; and as today's game indicated, they were ready. The first few innings of the game were quiet for both teams. Josh Beckett put together a decent start in his first game-- he pitched 2 innings, allowing no runs and a hit while walking one. His control was a bit shaky, but he came through and didn't allow any runs. In fact, the next couple of innings were still quiet-- with Andrew Miller putting on a very impressive performance-- after walking the leadoff batter in the 3rd inning, he struck out the side; he went 2 innings, allowing no runs or hits, while striking out three and walking just one. In the bottom of the 4th was when the Red Sox came through. After a baserunning gaffe in which Dustin Pedroia was out at home, Mike Aviles bounced one up the middle for a 2-run single to put the Sox on the board. However, in the 5th inning, Mark Melancon came on for his Red Sox debut and didn't do so well-- he allowed a run on two hits in the inning. After a spotless sixth by Justin Thomas, the Twins tied it on a single through the right side by Ben Revere off Tony Pena Jr. However, in the bottom of the 7th-- the Sox put the game away for good. Jason Bulger was awful, walking the bases loaded-- in fact, he even walked in the run that put the Sox ahead with a 3-2 lead. However, it wasn't a walk that hurt him most. With the bases loaded and one out, he dropped a curve into Lars Anderson's wheelhouse and Anderson turned on it, sending a high drive into the right field seats for a grand slam that made it 7-2 Sox. In the next inning, the Sox scored another on a beautiful RBI triple by Oscar Tejeda. The Twins scored in the 9th, but it was far too little and the Sox took the game 8-3. 


Bright Spots:
Andrew Miller- 2 innings, no runs, no hits, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts
Justin Thomas- 1 inning, no runs, no hits, 2 strikeouts
Dustin Pedroia- 1-2, 1 double, 1 run, 1 walk
Oscar Tejeda- 1-1, 1 run, 1 RBI, 1 triple
Lars Anderson- 2-2, 1 run, 4 RBI, 1 home run
Mike Aviles- 2-2, 2 RBI
Alex Hassan- 0-0, 2 walks, 2 runs


Dull Spots:
Mark Melancon- 1 inning, 1 run, 2 hits
Tony Pena Jr.- 1 inning, 1 run, 2 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout
Jacoby Ellsbury- 0-3, 4 left on base
Jarrod Saltalamacchia- 0-2, 1 strikeout, 2 left on base
Kelly Shoppach- 0-1, 1 strikeout, 1 left on base