Brad Penny pitched into the 7th inning and the offense got him 3 runs as the Boston Red Sox went on to a 3-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles in front of the 515th consecutive sellout at Fenway Park on Friday night.
With the win that ended a 5-game losing streak, the Red Sox (56-39) stay 2.5 games behind the New York Yankees who beat the Oakland A’s.
It was a typical Penny outing with a high pitch count but overall he was outstanding. He had a little extra giddy up on his fastball as well. He went 6 1/3 innings, allowing 1 unearned run on 4 hits and 4 strikeouts to pick up his 7th win of the season and lower his ERA to 4.71.
The Red Sox bullpen was great behind him although Jonathan Papelbon did make it interesting in the 9th by loading up the bases.
Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima combined for 1 2/3 hitless innings with MDC striking out 1. Papelbon allowed 2 hits and a walk while striking out 2.
Brad Bergesen wasn’t bad but he definitely wasn’t as good as the last time he faced the Red Sox. He went 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on 9 hits and had 3 walks and 5 strikeouts.
Matt Albers and Danys Baez shut the Red Sox down for the final 2 innings.
The Red Sox had 9 hits on the night with Kevin Youkilis (3 strikeouts and a walk) and Jed Lowrie the only ones without one. Lowrie did have an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia paced the local nine with two hits each from the top of the order. Ellsbury also added his 42nd stolen base of the season.
J.D. Drew ended a 0-for-24 streak with a single and had an RBI as well. Jason Varitek added the other RBI to the winning cause.
While the Red Sox offense only put up three runs on the evening, it was great to see Penny throw the ball well. If he could just only keep his pitch count down, he might see the end of the 7th once this season.
It should be a good pitching matchup at the Fens on Saturday night. Jeremy Guthrie gets the ball for Dave Trembley and Terry Francona will counter with his lefty ace in Jon Lester.
