Red Sox Back To Winning Ways, Rally To Beat Rays (68-81)

Doubront had a rough third, but was
strong otherwise

 One one hand, it's good to see the Red Sox winning. On the other, though, it would've been nice to see them doing that while they still had a chance at the playoffs. Still, though, it's good to see them beating the team that did this to them last year in the Rays. The Rays got off to a strong start after not scoring for the first two innings. On three Felix Doubront walks, they loaded the bases with one out. They would score twice when Ben Zobrist lined a ball to center and another on a sacrifice fly for Evan Longoria, making it 3-0. The Red Sox battled back, though, starting in the next inning with a leadoff double by Cody Ross. Ross immediately came in to score on a single by James Loney to cut it to 3-1. It took the Red Sox an inning, but they came back to tie it-- putting runners on the corners with no outs. They scored once when Jacoby Ellsbury singled in Jose Iglesias, and one more on a sacrifice fly for Dustin Pedroia to tie things up.

Loney went 1-4 with a run and an RBI

The Red Sox kept rolling right along in the sixth inning, putting runners at first and second with two away. They broke the tie when Sean Rodriguez made an errant throw to first, allowing a run to score and make it 4-3. They even put together a two out rally in the seventh inning, managing to put runners at first and second with two gone. They advanced their lead when Jarrod Saltalamacchia's single drove in Cody Ross to push it to 5-3. However, the biggest blow of the night came off the bat of Ryan Lavarnway (.155 entering play). Lavarnway knocked a double to center to score two runs and make it 7-3. The Rays weren't done yet, though, as they loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. They scored twice on a Ben Zobrist single to make it 7-5, but other than that, the Red Sox coasted to the comeback win.

Bright Spots:
Felix Doubront- 6 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 5 BB, 5 K, W (11-9)
Craig Breslow- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R
Andrew Bailey- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
Jacoby Ellsbury- 1-4, 1 R, 1 BB
Cody Ross- 2-4, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 2B
James Loney- 1-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 RBI
Ryan Lavarnway- 2-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 2B, 2 RBI

Dull Spots:
Clayton Mortensen- 0.1 IP, 0 H, 2 R, 2 BB

Player of the Game:
Ryan Lavarnway- Lavarnway had the key hit with a two-run double, and also went 2-3 with a walk and a run scored-- he is now .170/2/9.

Red Sox Play Spoiler, Walk Off Against Yanks (64-78)

Lester walked seven but wasn't bad

The Red Sox put together a rare good game against the Yankees last night, and in doing so, brought things to a tie at the top of the AL East. The Yankees got going pretty early in the first inning, starting off the game with a walk to Derek Jeter and a double by Nick Swisher. They would actually wind up loading the bases in the inning, but would only wind up getting one run on a groundout by Robinson Cano. It took the Red Sox a few innings to catch up, but in the bottom of the third they did just that. Pedro Ciriaco started things off with a leadoff double, and was promptly advanced to third on a groundout for Mike Aviles. Jacoby Ellsbury kept the rally going, singling up the middle to tie things at 1-1. Ellsbury made an essential steal then, taking his 13th bag of the year with a steal of second and would score on a single to right to give the Red Sox the lead.

Ellsbury had a walk-off single

It took the Yankees until the sixth, but Jon Lester's walks finally caught up to him (he walked seven total). A Curtis Granderson walk, Andruw Jones single, and Jayson Nix bunt put two in scoring position with one out. Almost immediately, the Yankees both tied things and nabbed the lead in one feld swoop as Derek Jeter popped one just out of Ryan Kalish's reach in right field. It popped over the short fence along the right field foul line for a ground-rule double to score two runs and make it 3-2. However, the Red Sox got one of those runs right back in the bottom of the sixth when Dustin Pedroia homered on a line drive into the first row of the monster seats. From that point on, there was a slew of relievers and unfulfilled rallies until the bottom of the ninth. Pedro Ciriaco and Mike Aviles had back-to-back one out singles off Yankees reliever David Robertson. However, things got really bad for New York when Jacoby Ellsbury singled hard to right, just scoring Ciriaco in time for a walk-off single.

Bright Spots:
Junichi Tazawa- 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 K
Craig Breslow- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB
Andrew Bailey- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 K, W (1-0)
Jacoby Ellsbury- 4-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI
Dustin Pedroia- 3-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Pedro Ciriaco- 2-3, 2 R, 1 2B

Dull Spots:
Scott Podsednik- 0-3, 2 LOB
James Loney- 0-4, 1 K, 3 LOB
Ryan Lavarnway- 0-4, 3 K, 1 LOB

Player of the Game:
Jacoby Ellsbury- Happy birthday to Jacoby Ellsbury, as on his birthday, he went 4-5 with 2 RBIs including the walk-off single-- he is now .268/3/20.

Big Fifth Sinks Sox In Attempt For Sweep (53-52)

Cook was roughed up again

The Red Sox headed into this matchup with Aaron Cook (2-4, 4.50) going against Rick Porcello (7-6, 4.56) in a matchup of two sinkerballers. Both were effective early on but a big fifth innings for the Tigers led to a loss. After a leadoff double by Jacoby Ellsbury and a two-out walk by Adrian Gonzalez-- the Red Sox were in business in the first inning. Cody Ross delivered with a jam shot over to right field that fell for an RBI single. After two quick outs to start the fourth, the Tigers came roaring back with a double by Prince Fielder. Brennan Boesch would drive him in with a single up the middle that tied it at 1-1. After that came the fifth inning-- the Tigers put two runners in scoring position with one out. Austin Jackson drove one in with a hard grounder to left. Another came in when Quintin Berry grounded out to second to put a man on second for Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera did what he does best, crushing one onto Lansdowne Street for a two-run homer. However, the Tigers weren't done as Prince Fielder followed him up with a homer to center to make it 6-1.

Crawford had his second homer

From that point on, all the Red Sox could really do was claw back into the game. Craig Breslow came in to make his Red Sox debut and, in the sixth, did well. In the bottom of the sixth, the Red Sox actually put together a little rally of their own. They loaded the bases on three singles to start the inning. Jarrod Saltalamacchia then grounded into a double play to score a run, and Will Middlebrooks singled to right to score another and make it 6-3. After Ryan Kalish walked, it was Pedro Ciriaco with a clutch single to right to cut it to 6-4. The Red Sox cut it further in the bottom of the seventh on a leadoff home run by Carl Crawford-- his second of the year. However, the Tigers got that run right back when Delmon Young looped one around the Pesky Pole to give the Tigers a 7-5 lead which would eventually be the final after a strong ninth for Jose Valverde.

Bright Spots:
Craig Breslow- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 K
Junichi Tazawa- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 K
Jacoby Ellsbury- 1-4, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 R
Carl Crawford- 1-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Dustin Pedroia- 1-4, 1 R
Adrian Gonzalez- 2-3, 1 R, 1 BB
Cody Ross- 2-4, 1 RBI
Will Middlebrooks- 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI
Pedro Ciriaco- 1-4, 1 RBI

Dull Spots:
Aaron Cook- 4.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R, L (2-5)
Jarrod Saltalamacchia- 0-4, 2 K, 5 LOB

Player of the Game:
Cody Ross- This wasn't much of a game for the Red Sox offense-- despite scoring five runs-- but Cody Ross's 2-4, RBI day stood out among them-- he is now .261/16/51.

Red Sox To Acquire Left-Hander Craig Breslow

The Diamondbacks acquired more talent than the Red Sox did in this deal, let me make that clear. But still, I'm not unhappy because the Red Sox were able to deal Matt Albers and Scott Podsednik-- each members of the bullpen and outfield surplus that the Red Sox won't be building around. In return, they'll acquire a left-handed reliever named Craig Breslow who has quietly had a lot of success over the past few years. In his first year with Arizona in 2012, he's gone 2-0/2.70/42 with peripheral numbers far superior to Matt Albers'. He's struck out 8.72 per nine innings and walk just 2.70-- good for a very respectable 3.23 ratio. Both that and his FIP and xFIP of 3.61 and 3.54, respectively, are better than Matt Albers' 5.01 and 4.19 marks. Plus, there's always the issue that in acquiring another left-handed reliever, they free up the option of moving Franklin Morales back to the rotation. Morales had put up a 3.43 ERA in 5 starts earlier this year and would certainly be an upgrade over Aaron Cook. All in all, this was a smart trade for the Red Sox and I'm happy with it.