Ross, Lavarnway Homer As Sox Break Skid (63-74)

Bailey nailed down his second nave

Finally that miserable losing streak is over as the Red Sox finally edged the Mariners to end a seven game losing skid. Jon Lester (8-11, 5.01) got off to a bit of a rocky start, allowing Dustin Ackley to single to start the ballgame. Ackley stole second and advanced to third on a ground ball to put him there at third with two outs. Jesus Montero came up and drove him in with an RBI single to right to put the Mariners on the board 1-0. Lester held the Mariners scoreless in the second inning but ran into a bunch of trouble when he opened up the third. Franklin Gutierrez came up and crushed a home run over the head of Jacoby Ellsbury to dead center field. He was followed up immediately by Kyle Seager who knocked a no doubter to right field to give the Mariners a 3-0 lead on Seager's 16th homer.

Ross had a three-run homer

Jon Lester settled down from that point and tossed scoreless baseball for his next three innings of work. He would manage to get the win as well, as the Red Sox put together a little rally of their own in the top of the sixth. Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury each singled to right field to put runners at first and second to start off the inning. That was when Cody Ross came up and drove a ball to deep left field, well out of the ballpark to bring in all three runs possible and tie the game up at 3-3. The next two batters got out to leave Ryan Lavarnway (who entered the game batting .174) to fend for himself with two outs. He did just that as he drove one off the scoreboard in the left field on a big home run to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead. The bullpen came together for a win and Andrew Bailey pitched a good ninth to pick up his second save.

Bright Spots:
Vicente Padilla- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB
Andrew Bailey- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, SV (2)
Dustin Pedroia- 2-4, 1 R, 1 BB
Cody Ross- 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI
James Loney- 2-4, 1 2B
Ryan Lavarnway- 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Jose Iglesias- 1-3, 1 2B

Dull Spots:
Jarrod Saltalamacchia- 0-4, 1 K, 2 LOB

Player of the Game:
Cody Ross- Ross was only 1-4 in last night's game but he absolutely had the biggest hit of the night with a three run homer-- he is now .274/20/74.

Red Sox Shutout Rays For Fourth Win (4-2)

Bard made his second start

Last night was a solid game as the Red Sox were able to put a convincing win on one of their hated rivals: the Rays. After a scoreless top half, the Red Sox put runners at the corners with no outs and after a Jacoby Ellsbury strikeout, they loaded them up. Wade Davis kept struggling with his control, however, walking the run in to give the Sox a one run lead. In the bottom of the 2nd, Darnell McDonald led off the inning with a double down the line. A sacrifice fly and a walk to Alex Hassan would put runners at the corners with one out and after Hassan stole second, they had runners in scoring position. That's when Jose Iglesias hit a seemingly harmless fly ball to center on a bizarre play. B.J. Upton ran over to get it as usual, but he just flat missed it-- Iglesias was able to get to third and two runs scored, but it was called an error on Upton. Then another bizarre play occurred, as Iglesias was caught stealing home to end the inning. In the 3rd, a one out double for Adrian Gonzalez put a runner at second, and a two out double to right for Kevin Youkilis drove him in to give the Sox a 4-0 lead. All the while, Daniel Bard had been pretty good in his second start of the spring-- he picked up the win with 3 innings, 2 hits, no runs, 2 walks, 1 strikeout. After Bard was done, Alfredo Aceves was pretty good-- 3 innings, 2 hits, no runs or walks, 2 strikeouts, and through Aceves' pitching the Sox offense stood pat. In the 7th, Matt Albers was able to get out of a spot of trouble, he allowed a walk and a hit in his one inning. Junichi Tazawa had a similar situation in the 8th, tossing a shutout inning, but walking two in the process. In the 8th, the Sox' offense came back to life. Will Middlebrooks doubled with one out, and then with two outs, Josh Kroeger lifted a liner into right field which ended up as an RBI ground-rule double. Clayton Mortensen closed out the win by going 1 inning, 2 hits, no runs, 1 walk in an eventual 5-0 victory.

Bright Spots:
Alfredo Aceves- 3 innings, 2 hits, no runs, 2 strikeouts
Nick Punto- 1-2, 1 run, 1 walk
Josh Kroeger- 1-1, 1 RBI, 1 double
Will Middlebrooks- 1-2, 1 double, 1 run
Darnell McDonald- 1-2, 1 double, 1 run
Kevin Youkilis- 1-2, 1 RBI, 1 double

Dull Spots:
Jacoby Ellsbury- 0-3, 1 strikeout, 2 left on base
Ryan Lavarnway- 0-2, 2 strikeouts, 1 left on base
Jason Repko- 0-2, 1 strikeout, 1 left on base

Cardinals Looking A BIt Too Accustomed To Chris Carpenter (3-1)

Chris Carpenter lost the game

On the surface, today's 9-3 loss might look like a slugfest-- however, if not for one big inning for the Cardinals, it would've been a pitching game. It started out quite low scoring, with Josh Beckett opening the game with 3 shutout innings-- allowing just two hits. In 2+ innings, Felix Doubront looked a little rough-- allowing 2 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks while striking out 2. Jesse Carlson was equally rough, as he contributed with a run on a hit in the Cardinals' 3-run 6th inning. After a scoreless 7th, the Red Sox struck right back-- on singles by Juan Carlos Linares and Pedro Ciriaco, plus a walk by Jason Repko-- the Sox loaded the bases with two gone. That's when Jose Iglesias rocketed a triple down the line to score all three runners and tie the game at 3-3. That inning ended eventually, and Chris Carpenter took the mound, which is when it all began to unfurl for the Red Sox. In 1 inning, he allowed 2 hits, 4 runs, and 3 walks. Garrett Mock soon came in and was also off, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits and a walk in 1 inning. The Red Sox were unable to hit enough to keep up with Carpenter's miscues and they dropped their first game.

Bright Spots:
Josh Beckett- 3 innings, 2 hits, no runs, no walks, no strikeouts
Juan Carlos Linares- 1-2, 1 run
Pedro Ciriaco- 1-1, 1 run
Jason Repko- 1-3, 1 run, 1 walk
Jose Iglesias- 1-4, 1 triple, 3 RBI

Dull Spots:
Felix Doubront- 2 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts
Jesse Carlson- 1 inning, 1 run, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout
Chris Carpenter- 1 inning, 2 hits, 4 runs, 3 walks, 1 strikeout
Garrett Mock- 1 inning, 2 runs, 2 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout
Jacoby Ellsbury- 0-2, 1 strikeout, 2 left on base
Dustin Pedroia- 0-2, 1 strikeout, 2 left on base
Oscar Tejeda- 0-2, 1 strikeout, 1 left on base
Josh Kroeger- 0-3, 2 left on base
Jarrod Saltalamacchia- 0-2, 2 left on base
Will MIddlebrooks- 0-3, 3 strikeouts, 3 left on base