After having their butts handed to them on Friday night by the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox returned the favor Saturday afternoon as they pounded A.J. Burnett early and often on their way to a 14-1 win in front of 37,277 at Fenway Park.
The win for the Red Sox (70-52) pulls them to within 6.5 games of the Yankees (77-46) in the AL East. But more importantly, it allows them to keep their one-game lead over the Texas Rangers in the wild card standings and could be two games pending the outcome of the Rangers game with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Kevin Youkilis led the way for the Red Sox with three hits, including 2 home runs and a career-high tying 6 RBIs. Dustin Pedroia also added three hits for the Red Sox while David Ortiz had 2 hits, including his 20th home run, and 3 RBIs.
Jason Bay and Victor Martinez both had 2 hits and an RBI and Alex Gonzalez added a solo home run as well. J.D. Drew and Casey Kotchman added the other RBIs for the Red Sox.
Junichi Tazawa pitched a great game and showed the poise of a Major League veteran during his 6 innings. He found himself in trouble at times but showed a ton of moxie as he was able to work out of it each time. He gave up 8 hits and walked two while striking out two in picking up his second big league win.
Daniel Bard allowed a run on two hits in an inning while Enrique Gonzalez allowed two hits and a walk with a strikeout in two innings out of the Red Sox bullpen.
Burnett’s 2009 Fenway struggles continued as he gave up 7 runs in the first two innings. He settled down for a few innings but fell apart in the 5th. He lasted just 5 innings, allowing a career-high 9 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6.
Alfredo Aceves gave up three runs on 3 hits with two strikeouts in two innings. Dave Robertson allowed 2 runs on 3 hits with two strikeouts in his inning of work.
Big win for the Red Sox as they bounced back from yesterday’s poor outing by Brad Penny. It was great to see Tazawa not buckle under the pressure and give in even with the big lead he was given. With Penny out of the rotation for now, Saturday’s outing by Tazawa should be enough to earn him another start this upcoming week.
Tomorrow night brings a battle of the heavyweights in pitching as C.C. Sabathia and Josh Beckett will square off on the bump. It’s the ESPN Sunday Night Game of the Week with first pitch scheduled for roughly 8:05 PM.
