Michael Bowden was stretched too thin, giving up five hits and five earned runs in just over two innings of work. The bullpen did not help matters, as Hunter Jones handed the Blue Jays another four on the way to an 11-5 loss.
Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz would not go silently into the good night, but the pitching, or lack thereof, proved to be a bit too much to overcome, especially in a rain-shortened game.
Just one night after Paul Byrd dropped five runs in the first frame against the Kansas City Royals, KC found out what it was like to watch an entire game slip away in one inning. Behind a six run fifth inning, the Boston Red Sox gave the Royals one such beat down, taking their first win of the series off of KC, 9-2, last night. The win was their 90th of the season, and brought the magic number in the Wild Card Race down to five.
A five run first inning by the Kansas City Royals did the Red Sox in last night, as the boys from Boston drop the second game of a four game series, 5-1.
Paul Byrd shook off the missteps of the first inning and went on to throw 6.2 innings, but the damage was already done, as Zack Greinke held off the Boston bats with another dominating performance.
With a host of question marks looming over Tim Wakefield's much-anticipated return to the mound, it was the Red Sox bullpen that would leave everyone perplexed, as the Boston Red Sox drop the first game of a four game series to the Kansas City Royals, 12-9, in a come-from-behind win for KC.
At two different points in the game, the Red Sox led by six runs, on the heels of another Jason Bay home run (36 on the year) and a two-run RBI from Jacoby Ellsbury, who has been on fire as of late. Dustin Pedroia added an RBI of his own, before an untimely implosion of the bullpen, in a rain soaked game at Kaufman Stadium.
With another short but sweet start from Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Red Sox were able to whittle the magic number down…
Even an uninspiring performance by Jon Lester was enough to get the job done against an Orioles team that has all but thrown in the orange towel, as Boston beat Baltimore, 11-5, on Saturday.
It was the Red Sox bats that locked up the 12th consecutive series win against the Orioles, behind a shaky outing six inning stretch where Lester gave up ten hits. But as he continued to miss his spots (only 62 strikes over 102 pitches), the offense was busy at work against an already depleted Orioles pitching staff.
Both Clay Buchholz and Jason Bay weren't feeling quite right last night, but somehow emerged as the heroes of Friday night's series opener against the Baltimore Orioles.
Buchholz's six strong innings, combined with Bay's 34th home run of the year, lifted the Red Sox past the Birds, 3-1.
The Los Angeles Angels didn't want to leave Fenway without at least one win for the trip home, as the AL West leaders beat the Red Sox, 4-3.
A wild pitch in the seventh tarnished an otherwise solid start for Josh Beckett. Jacoby Ellsbury and Jason Bay brought the lumber, but to no avail, as the Sox fall to the AL West leading Angels.
It's not everyday that Red Sox fans get to see Alex Gonzalez at the bottom of a walk-off pig-pile. It's even more rare to see him take a walk. But last night, he did both, leading the Red Sox past the Los Angeles Angels, 9-8.
Both Paul Byrd and Angels' starter Joe Saunders pitched some uninspired baseball, but it was the quick feet and quick thinking of the Red Sox that brought home the seventh win in eight days for Boston.
In his first game back since June 19, Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched a surprisingly decent an unagitating outing, as the Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California of the United States of North America, 4-1. The multi-million dollar man notched over six shutout innings, giving up only three hits. Unfortunately, he walked just as many batters, but the five strikeouts on 93 pitches were certainly a step in the right direction.