Before last night’s game against the Miami Marlins, the Boston Red Sox had scored 12 runs in their past five games. Part of that was the good pitching from their opponents, the other part the bats were slumping.
Hopefully after pounding out 14 hits in a 10-2 win, the bats are now alive. As they say hitting is contagious.
But before we talk about the offense from last night, we’d be remissed if we didn’t talk about the outing from Felix Doubront.
He’s been the most consistent starter the Red Sox have had this season. He was coming off a rare bad outing against the Washington Nationals and I think we all wanted to see how he’d respond.
Respond he did as he didn’t allow a hit for the first 5 2/3 innings. That all changed when Jose Reyes took him deep on a pitch that was left out over the plate. It was really the only mistake Doubront made all night.
He was effective by pounding the strike zone all night long. He finished with nine strikeouts as he threw 15 of 25 first pitch strikes and got 12 swing and misses. All of this was good for his seventh win of the season which ties him with Clay Buchholz for the team lead.
The top four in the Red Sox lineup last night had nine of their 14 hits.
Scott Podsednik, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz all had two hits each while Adrian Gonzalez broke out of his slump with three hits. Big Papi had three RBIs while Gonzo had two with Pedroia and Pods adding one each.
With the score 4-2 in the 8th, Nick Punto came off the bench to spark a big rally. Pinch-hitting for Doubront, Punto got things started with a leadoff double. After a pitching change, four straight singles from the top four in the lineup brought in three more runs. It didn’t stop there either as Jarrod Saltalamacchia had a bases loaded sac fly after Will Middlebrooks got plunked. A few batters later, Punto brought in two runs with a single to close the scoring for the night.
This was exactly what the Red Sox needed.
The pitching hadn’t been all that bad during the little down turn. It was the hitting. And usually when a night like this happens, good things tend to follow. Hopefully the day off today doesn’t slow them down before the matchup with Chicago Cubs over the weekend.
With the off day today, we’ll be back in a short while with the FOX breakdown for Saturday’s game as well as the pitching matchups. 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
Sox club Marlins in finale [Boston Globe]
Covering the bases [Boston Globe]
Jenks settlement is being negotiated [Boston Globe]
Doubront in seventh heaven [Boston Globe]
Felix Doubront lifts Sox over Marlins [Boston Herald]
Red Sox feed on bottom [Boston Herald]
Scott Podsednik’s a big help [Boston Herald]
No easy answer for Kevin Youkilis’ ongoing woes [Boston Herald]
Theo Epstein’s unhappy ending [Boston Herald]
Sox smash Marlins, 10-2 [CSN New England]
Saltalamacchia on Doubront: ‘The stuff he’s got is best in the league’ [CSN New England]
Red Sox offense explodes against Marlins [CSN New England]
Theo: Red Sox were swallowed by ‘The Monster’ [CSN New England]
First pitch: Sorry, but Youk’s time is up [CSN New England]
Youk a true pro amid trade speculation [ESPN Boston]
Pedroia digs Harper’s ‘clown’ comeback [ESPN Boston]
Rapid Reaction: Red Sox 10, Marlins 2 [ESPN Boston]
Sox hospitality beats OKC for Lil Wayne? [ESPN Boston]
Sox offense gets party started [ESPN Boston]
Doubront dazzles, loses no-hitter in 6th [ESPN Boston]
Scott Podsednik thinks this might be the best Scott Podsednik we’ve ever seen [Full Count]
Opinion: It’s time to trade Kevin Youkilis [Full Count]
Theo Epstein on D&C: ‘No villains’ in Red Sox management [Full Count]
Bobby Valentine Called Out by Former MLB Umpire Chief for Complaining About Calls [NESN.com]
David Ortiz Continues to Provide Leadership, Prove Red Sox Offense Can Be Best in MLB [NESN.com]
Pedro Martinez Still Tastes ‘Sweet Revenge’ of Defeating Yankees in 2004 ALCS (Video) [NESN.com]
Theo Epstein Reflects on ‘Sad’ Ending to 2011 Season and Red Sox Tenure, ‘We Brought It on Ourselves’ [NESN.com]
Andrew Bailey Deserves to Be Closer Upon Return Even Given Alfredo Aceves’ Success for Red Sox [Don Orsillo – NESN.com]
Middlebrooks adapting well to new role [RedSox.com]
Nava out again; Sweeney steps in [RedSox.com]
Youkilis gets night off after getting hit in ribs [RedSox.com]
How success bred a monster: Theo Epstein considers his Red Sox legacy [Alex Speier – WEEI.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, be sure to head over to the Miami Herald, Palm Beach Post and South Florida Sun-Sentinel websites. Also be sure to check out our Bloguin brother Marlins Big Catch for all of your Nationals needs.
Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.
photo credit: Getty Images
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21-42
Well here’s the breakdown courtesy of