On a night where John Lackey struggled, it would be up to the offense for the Boston Red Sox to help them to a win. Fortunately for Lackey and the Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays starter Brandon Morrow had some control issues.
The Red Sox had just eight hits but it was the six walks by Morrow that helped them to a 7-6 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in front of 37,332 at a cold and breezy Fenway Park on Monday night.
With the win, the Red Sox move to 17-16 but more importantly they pick up a game on the Blue Jays and are now just 1½ games behind them for third place in the AL East.
It was tough going for Morrow in the second inning. After his team had given him a 4-2 lead in the top half of the 2nd, he lost his control and it came back to haunt him.
Morrow started the inning with a walk to Jeremy Hermida and got a strikeout of Darnell McDonald. He then lost his focus as he walked Jonathan Van Every, Marco Scutaro and then Dustin Pedroia to force in a run to make it 4-3. Victor Martinez then grounded into what should have been an inning-ending double play but Blue Jays second baseman Aaron Hill’s throw was off target and allowed Scutaro to touch home plate after JVE already had to give the Red Sox a 5-4 lead.
A walk to Kevin Youkilis and an RBI single by David Ortiz ended Morrow’s outing after 1 2/3 innings.
Pedroia would make it 7-4 in the bottom of third with a single that scored JVE.
Lackey had a rough go of things. After his team gave him a 2-0 lead in the first, he loaded up the bases on a walk to Lyle Overbay, a double by Alex Gonzalez that went off the top of the Green Monster (it was reviewed and not ruled a home run) and a walk to Jose Bautista. A 2-run ground rule by John Buck, a single by Travis Snider and a single by Fred Lewis gave the Jays a 4-2 lead.
He would later give up a 2-run bomb to Bautista but the bullpen saved his fourth win of the season.
Lackey persevered through six rough innings, allowing the six runs on eight hits and three walks with six strikeouts. Hideki Okajima, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon shut down the Jays the rest of the way for an inning each with Bard allowing a walk and Papelbon recording a strikeout.
It’s the ninth save of the season and 23rd straight save in the regular season for Papelbon.
Pedroia had two hits and three RBIs while VMart had a hit and two RBIs.
These same two teams will be back at it again tomorrow night as Dana Eveland and (gulp) Daisuke Matsuzaka square off on the bump. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.
