What can I say? That I wanted Jon Lester back in the rotation instead of Julian “Yo-Yo” Tavarez. Well Yo-Yo hurled another gem for 7 innings and the Red Sox bats warmed up for the first day of summer on Thursday, as they pounded out 15 hits, 5 of them for homeruns. Oh and the Red Sox won the game 11-0 for their second shutout in a row over the Atlanta Braves. Tavarez is now unbeaten in his last 7 starts with 4 wins in that time.
How could you not love Yo-Yo directing traffic when ground balls are hit to his fielders?
J.D. Drew got things going early for the Bosox as he led off the game with a homerun off of Braves starter Buddy Carlyle. Pedroia followed with the first of his two doubles on the night. Carlyle did get Big Papi to strikeout and then Manny drove in Pedroia with a double of his own, giving the Sox a 2-0 lead. The Sox weren’t done yet though. After a Kevin Youkilis strikeout, Jason Varitek was intentionally walked. Why I don’t know? But Covelli “Super Coco” Crisp made them pay when he took a Carlyle offering and planted it in the rightfield seats for a 3-run homer, making it 5-0. The slumping Julio Lugo ended the inning with a fly out to left.
The Sox struck for 2 more runs in the second inning. Yo-Yo led off the inning with a strikeout then Drew doubled to rightfield. Pedroia grounded out to third and the Big Papi struck for the 3rd homer in 2 innings as he took a Carlyle pitch and said see ya later for a 2-run homer, giving the Sox a commanding 7-0 lead. Manny and Youk both followed with singles but ‘Tek grounded out to end the inning. Drew left the game after the inning with tightness in his right quad. He is listed as day-to-day. He was replaced by Wily Mo Peña.
The Bosox chased Carlyle from the game in the 4th inning. Wily Mo led off with a double. Pedroia flew out to center. Instead of facing Big Papi, Carlyle intentionally walked him to get to Manny. He got Manny to foul out for the second out of the inning. Youk then worked a walk and that was the end of the night for Carlyle as he left with the bases loaded. Oscar Villareal came in and got ‘Tek to strikeout.
Meanwhile, “Yo-Yo” was cruising along. He had retired the first 10 Braves he had faced before allowing a single to Willie Harris. Yo-Yo then directed the Sox fielders as to where to throw the ball when Edgar Renteria grounded into an inning ending double play.
Villareal cooled down the Red Sox for 2 1/3 innings as he retired all 7 batters he faced. The same couldn’t be said for Braves rookie Peter Moylan. Moylan came in for the 7th inning and gave up a lead-off homerun to Manny, giving the Sox a 8-0 lead.
Meanwhile, Yo-Yo continued his masterpiece as he only allowed 1 hit in the 5th and 6th innings. He finally got into a little trouble in the 7th inning. Kelly Johnson led off with a walk but was retired at second on a Harris fielder’s choice. Renteria followed with a single and was pinch-run for by Chris Woodward. Yunnel Escobar, in earlier for Chipper Jones, grounded into a fielder’s choice that got Woodward at 2nd base. Yo-Yo’s sinker worked another groundball to Youk at third, who went to second for the final out of the inning.
Yo-Yo’s line: 7 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk and 4 strikeouts on 97 pitches.
The Sox struck for 3 more runs in the 8th inning off of Braves reliever Rafael Soriano. Lugo and Alex Cora started out with flyouts to centerfield. Wily Mo got his 2nd hit of the game with a single. He came around to score on a Pedroia double. Eric Hinske, who was in for Big Papi, followed with a two-run homer in front of his mom, dad and family. The homer gave the Sox a 11-0 lead.
Joel Piñero came in for the 8th inning and gave up 2 singles before settling down. He got Scott Thorman to strikeout on a nasty ass curveball. He then got Jared Saltalamacchia to strikeout as well. Johnson grounded out to end the inning.
This is a sign of how bad things are when you’re slumping. Varitek and Coco led off with singles. Lugo followed with what was a sure single but Varitek got caught a third base because he was unsure whether or not the ball was going to be caught. To his credit, he did make the right decision.
Mike Timlin came in and mopped up in the 9th and retired all 3 batters he faced. Tavarez now moves to 5-4 on the season. The Sox lead is back to double-digits at 10 as the Yankees just lost as I was finishing up the recap.
The Sox are off on Thursday and will be traveling to beautiful San Diego for a 3 game set against the Padres. Daisuke Matsuzaka gets the nod on Friday night. Gametime is 10:05 here on the right coast and the game will be televised by NESN locally.
