Despite a little scare from Jonathan Papelbon in the 9th inning, Jon Lester outdueled Roy Halladay to help the Boston Red Sox to a 4-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in front of 37,007 at Fenway Park.
The win for the Red Sox narrows the gap to just 1 game in the AL East as the Tampa Bay Rays lost to the New York Yankees this afternoon. The win also pushes their lead up to 6 games over the Minnesota Twins in the wild card standings and all but eliminates the Jays from the postseason. The Red Sox head to Tampa tonight for a 3-game set which could determine who wins the AL East.
Papelbon entered the game in the 9th with the Red Sox holding a 4-1 lead. Vernon Wells led off with a first pitch double down the 3rd base line. Adam Lind pinch-hit for Kevin Mench and drove in Wells with a single to cut the lead to 4-2. Lyle Overbay followed that with single and was thrown out by Jason Bay trying to stretch into a double with Lind stopping at third. Replays showed that Overbay slid around the tag. Papelbon then got Scott Rolen to ground out on a bang-bang play at first that scored Lind to make it 4-3. Papelbon picked up his 38th save of the season when Gregg Zaun grounded out to second.
Lester continues to show why he is becoming one of the best left-handed pitchers in baseball. He threw 105 pitches over 8 innings of work, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits and a walk. He struck out 6 batters to pick up his 15th win of the season. Papelbon went the 1 inning, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits.
Coco Crisp went 2-for-3 with RBI to lead the Red Sox.
Coco Crisp continued his hot streak as he went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI. Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz each had a hit and a RBI while Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Lowell and Bay had the other hits.
The Jays would get their only run of the afternoon in the 1st when Jose Bautista had a 1-out home run into the Green Monster seats.
The Red Sox got the run back in the bottom half of the 1st off of Halladay playing some small ball.
Ellsbury led off with a single and stole second with Pedroia at the plate. Pedroia sacrificed him over to third and he came into score when Big Papi grounded out to second. Youk followed with a single but Lowell grounded out to third to end the inning.
Jason Bay gets some love from the bench after scoring the 2nd run for the Red Sox in the 2nd inning.
In the 2nd, Bay led off with a double and went to third on a Jason Varitek ground out. After an Alex Cora strikeout, Crisp drove in Bay with a single to give the Red Sox the lead at 2-1.
After that both pitchers got into grooves. Halladay was perfect for the next 4 innings while Lester allowed just 2 hits over that same timeframe.
Lester started the 7th by striking out Overbay and then Rolen reached on an infield single. He issued a walk to Zaun but got of the mini-jam by getting John McDonald to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.
The local nine added an insurance run in the 7th.
Lowell led off with a single and Bay popped out for the 1st out. Varitek then reached on an Overbay error. Halladay got Cora to ground into a fielder’s choice with Varitek retired at second. Crisp picked up his 2nd RBI of the day with a single scoring Lowell making it 3-1 Red Sox.
The Sox added another insurance run which they would end up needing when Big Papi tripled and came into score on a Youk sac fly.
As I said above, it’s a big series for the Red Sox down in Tampa. With the lead sitting at just 1 game for the Rays, the Red Sox can take back the lead in the East, a place they haven’t been in 58 days. The responsibility of trying to get the Red Sox there in the first game belongs to Daisuke Matsuzaka. He will be opposed by Scott Kazmir.
Notes and musings:
Blue Jays @ Red Sox 9.14.08 boxscore
Today was Maine Day at the Fens.
The triple for Ortiz was just his first since August 21, 2007.
Jacoby Ellsbury now has 48 stolen bases and is 6 short of Tommy Harper’s Red Sox record of 54.
