After watching the bullpen fail last night, Josh Beckett took matters into his hands this afternoon throwing a complete game 3-hit shutout in the Boston Red Sox 6-0 win over the Kansas City Royals in front of 37,612 at Fenway Park.
With the win today, the Red Sox (54-34) head into the All-Star Break with at least a 2-game lead over the Yankees, who are currently losing in the 7th inning to the Angels. A Yankees loss makes it a 3-game lead. The Royals drop to 37-51.
What a masterful performance by Beckett this afternoon. The only time he got into trouble, he was able to roll a double play ball. He gave up just the 3 hits while striking out 7 to tie Tim Wakefield and Jason Marquis as the MLB leaders in wins with 11. Since May 1st, Beckett is 9-1 with an ERA of just over 200. And oh by the way, it was the 100th career win for Beckett.
Bruce Chen was lucky only to give up 3 runs in this one this afternoon as he struggled with his control. He went 3+ innings, allowing those 3 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out two to take the loss.
In total, the Royals pitchers today walked 9 batters.
After getting his first MLB hit and RBI yesterday, Aaron Bates came back with a solid performance as he was 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and an RBI. Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia continue to stay hot after their slumps as they both added two hits with Youk adding an RBI.
Rocco Baldelli also had 2 hits and an RBI but made two base running errors. David Ortiz and Jason Varitek had the other RBIs.
Jason Bay reached base 5 times in the game, all without a hit (3 BB, 2 HBP). According to Josh Q. Public, it’s the first time a member of the Red Sox has reached base 5 times without a hit since Ted Williams did it in 1951.
While 5 members of the Red Sox are now heading to St. Louis, the rest of the team will enjoy some much needed time off. The Red Sox will return to action on Friday night in Toronto where we will see Clay Buchholz make his first start of 2009 in a Sox uniform.
