BoSox Sweep Toronto In Three

Although they couldn’t pull off the sweep against Baltimore (due to a close 7-6 loss on Sunday), the Red Sox swept Toronto in the very next three game series.

On Monday night, the Red Sox traveled to Toronto to begin the exciting series against the Blue Jays.  The scoring went back and forth between the two teams, but eventually the Sox pulled out a 13-12 victory.  After a slow start, the only completely scoreless innings were the 2^nd, 7^th, and 9^th, with 18 hits for Boston, and 16 hits for Toronto.  Unfortunately for Beckett, who gave up 9 hits, a three run homer, and eight runs in the 4 innings he pitched, this game was meant to be a battle of the bats.  Our line up was able to back him up and outhit the Jays.  The major contributors were Jason Varitek with three hits and four RBIs, and Marco Scutaro with three hits and one RBI.  We eventually secured the win with much need help from the bull pen, including relievers Delcarmen, Okajima, and Bard, and our closer Papelbon.  Here are the highlights from the game.

Tuesday night ended in a better, but less exciting 2-1 win for the Sox against the Blue Jays.  This game was all about defense, which is why Clay Buchholz was the shining star with a great pitching start for Boston.  The game proved to be an epic battle between Buchholz and Shaun Marcum of Toronto.  Both pitchers gave up one run early on, but it was Buchholz who pitched 8 full innings, striking out 4 batters along the way.  Finally in the eight inning, with Kevin Gregg on the mound for Toronto, Mike Lowell drew a bases loaded walk to take the 2-1 lead for the Sox.  Click here for the highlights.

On Wednesday night, the Sox were successful in both taking the sweep, and also shutting out the Jays with a 2-0 win in the final game of the series.  This time the pitching champion came in the form of Jon Jon Lester, who had a season high eleven strikeouts, along with just one hit over seven innings on the mound.  His amazing performance was backed up by Dustin Pedroia scoring Darnell McDonald in the sixth, McDonald scoring Adrian Beltre in the seventh.  Bard and Papelbon filled in on the mound in the eighth and ninth innings to finish out the game and hold onto the win.  Check out the highlights here. 

Red Sox Win 4 Of The Last 5

Since the last miserable post about the Red Sox, they have actually won four out of the five games they played.  From Tuesday to Thursday they played a series against the Texas Rangers and won the first two games.  On Tuesday night, the Sox were down 6-2 in the bottom of the sixth against the Rangers.  Before the inning was over, Josh Reddick doubled on a fly ball to left field, scoring Victor Martinez and Jeremy Hermida.  Reddick was then replaced by pinch hitter Darnell McDonald,a substitution that would prove extremely influential for the Red Sox.  In his first at bat for Boston during the bottom of the 8th, McDonald hit a two run homer to tie the game at 6-6.  Closer Jonathan Papelbon did his job during the top of the ninth by not allowing the Rangers to score, which led to McDonald's even more amazing walk off single to end the game and win it for the Red Sox!! For some reason I can't embed the video, but click here to see the walk-off hit and the Fenway crowd go wild!

On Wednesday night the 8-7 victory was somehow even more exciting than Tuesday nights game.  This time the game was tied at 7-7 in the 9th, so the game had to go into extra innings.  Twelve innings to be exact.  In the bottom of the 12th, Kevin Youkilis became the hero of the night with another walk-off hit (this time a double) to win the game!! We did horrible last week and now have begun a walk-off winning streak...go figure with the Sox, right? Click here to see Youk's walk-off hit!


The boys weren't so lucky in the final game of the Rangers series on Thursday.  Poor pitcher Clay Buchholz had 6 scoreless innings, but lost it in the seventh when he gave up three runs to the Rangers.  That was all it took, and the Red Sox lost 3-0 in the end.  Rangers pitcher CJ Wilson shut out our offense in the 7 innings he pitched. 

Friday night began a three game series against the Baltimore Orioles, and the Red Sox took game one in a 4-3 win.  Big Papi hit his first home run of the season in the second inning to give Boston an early lead.  Then Hermida scored in the third and Beltre scored in the fifth to put the Sox on top 3-0.  Then all of a sudden the score was tied at 3-3 after a two-run homer from Orioles's Adam Jones in the seventh, followed by Julio Lugo (former Red Sox player) scoring in the eighth.  However, Adrian Beltre came through in the end by drawing a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the eighth.  Per usual, Papelbon did his job well pitching in the top of the ninth to finish the game. Click here for the highlights.   

Tonight the Red Sox beat Baltimore again in game 2 by a close 7-6 victory.  The Sox were down 3-1 (thanks to a homer by Varitek), but came back in an unbelievable fashion by Marco Scutaro and Kevin Youkilis hitting BACK-TO-BACK three run homers in the bottom of the seventh.  Papelbon actually showed his mortality with his shaky performance in the ninth, where he gave up three runs, but somehow made it out alive and still gave Boston a win.