Joe Saunders pitched 7 2/3 innings earning his seventh victory of the season in the 3-1 win over the Boston Red Sox who saw their lead slip over the New York Yankees to four games.
Boston’s offense who have been compiling comebacks almost with ease lately were completely stymied only scoring one run on a Mike Lowell RBI single to left field in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Saunders (7-1) got two runs in the first inning on RBI’s by Vladmir Guerrero and Gary Matthew’s, Jr. and ran away with the run support throwing a shutout entering the eighth inning while giving up six hits, walking one, and striking out seven in the outing.
Bobby Kielty helped kill the possibility of an even bigger first inning by robbing Casey Kotchman of a two-run homerun reaching over the low wall in right field making the catch and ending the inning.
