Before heading to the left coast after yesterday afternoon’s game, the Boston Red Sox had some business to attend to, the rubber game with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Things went well for the local nine as they got out to a big early lead with Jon Lester making it hold up in a 10-4 win.
It turned out to be a big win for the Red Sox. With the Tampa Bay Rays losing to the Kansas City Royals, the Red Sox moved up another notch in the AL East standings into a tie for third with the Rays. They both sit 6.5 games out of first and are 1.5 games behind the second place Baltimore Orioles. That’s also the difference in the wild card standings as well.
Considering the way this season has gone for the Red Sox and all of the injuries, things are much better than the “rock bottom” days of April.
The Red Sox did this one with the offense as they took advantage of a wild Ricky Romero for six runs in the 1st inning. It took Romero until the sixth batter of the inning to record an out when Will Middlebrooks had an RBI ground out to make it 4-1. Mike Aviles and Darnell McDonald followed with RBI singles to extend the lead to 6-1.
They would add a run in the 2nd on Adrian Gonzalez‘s RBI single. Another Gonzo RBI single in the 4th made it 8-2. Two batters later Aviles knocked in a run with a double to make it 9-2.
The Red Sox would add their final run of the day when David Ortiz hit a 418 foot home run over the Red Sox bullpen in the 5th inning. For Big Papi, it was career home run 399. It was really also the first pitch he was able to swing it after being walked in his first three at-bats.
Lester would give up a quick run to start the game when Colby Rasmus singled in Brett Lawrie who led off the game with a double. After that Lester settled in until he left a pitch out over the plate to Jose Bautista who cleared everything in left field. He even left a huge dent on a black SUV in a parking garage behind the Green Monster.
He left another changeup over the plate to Bautista in the 6th who took it for double down the right field line that was misplayed by Darnell McDonald. With the error by DMac, Bautista went to third but wasn’t there long as Edwin Encarnacion took advantage of a mistake pitch by Lester and crushed a home run to close out the scoring at 10-4.
Given how the season has gone for Lester, he has to be mostly happy with the results. I’d have to think it’s a lot easier to pitch when your team gets you six runs after you gave up one the previous half inning. The mistakes he made are correctable.
But with the top of the Red Sox rotation in flux, it was exactly what they needed.
The Red Sox now head out for west for their first west coast trip of the season. They’ll play four in Seattle before heading to Bay area for three with the Oakland Athletics. So you know what that means folks. You’re going to need to stay up late for the next week to enjoy your favorite team.
I’m up for the challenge. Are you?
We’ll be back later with today’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day. So for now, let’s take at look at the overnight links from the media by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click
Looking up [boston globe]
Lefthander felt he had right stuff [boston globe]
Buchholz is a relieved pitcher [boston globe]
Jon Lester, David Ortiz lead Sox’ win over Jays [boston herald]
David Ortiz continues to have a blast at plate [boston herald]
Looking good, Red Sox [boston herald]
Darnell McDonald catches on [boston herald]
Jon Lester gets support in victory [boston herald]
Bobby Valentine Criticized for Being Opposite of Terry Francona, But His Methods Are Working [tom caron – nesn.com]
Red Sox beat up the Blue Jays in series finale, 10-4 [csn new england]
Buchholz attends event at MGM Foxwoods [csn new england]
Successful Red Sox homestand marks turning point [csn new england]
Lester: ‘A win’s, a win, I’m not going to overanalyze’ [csn new england]
Ross on Ortiz: ‘He’s on fire’ [csn new england]
Acid reflux is top cause of Buch’s condition [espn boston]
Rapid Reaction: Red Sox 10, Blue Jays 4 [espn boston]
RF McDonald robs Jays’ Johnson of HR [espn boston]
Pedro steals show at ‘The Tradition’ [espn boston]
David Ortiz on verge of No. 400 in season for ages [espn boston]
Boston Red Sox come together with solid homestand [espn boston]
Closing time: Lineup explodes as Red Sox coast to win over Blue Jays [full count]
Clay Buchholz attended but did not drink at Foxwoods charity event on Wednesday night [full count]
Five questions about the resurgent Red Sox [tony massarotti – boston globe]
John Lackey Starts March Back From Tommy John Surgery, Beginning With Light Bullpen Session [nesn.com]
David Ortiz Vows to Avoid Distraction of History As He Nears Home Run No. 400 [nesn.com]
Jon Lester’s Budding Confidence Could Return Him to Cy Young Form [nesn.com]
After going deep, Papi had thoughts of No. 400 [redsox.com]
Tejeda claimed off waivers by Pirates [redsox.com]
Lackey expected to pitch before 2012 ends [redsox.com]
For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.
And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the Toronto Star and Toronto Sun websites.
Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.
photo credit: Getty Images
The Huskies will also play host to Syracuse in the final season in the league for the Orange, and will journey to Pittsburgh to play the Panthers in their last season as a BIG EAST member.
40-35
32-45
38-36
That banned substance is reportedly Tamoxifen.