We’ve always joked that an Angry Beckett is a Good Beckett. We weren’t kidding. Josh Beckett took the mound for the Sox in hopes of bringing us 2 wins in a row and that’s just what he did. Beckett had a shaky first inning, walking three batters and walking in a run. Beckett also believed he was being squeezed by home plate ump Adrian Johnson. Beckett had to throw 37 pitches to get out of the first inning and he left the mound yelling at the home plate ump. If you could read lips you could see Beckett saying that “It was *&^&^$^%&” and that he had to “get FIVE %*&%$^ U^&%&( outs.” Basically, it was a lot of baseball terms. Beckett was lucky he didn’t get tossed.
Angry Beckett seemed to settle right down though. Beckett came back to the mound and pitched 6 strong innings. The Twins weren’t able to get much else from him and shockingly after his tantrum on the mound, he seemed to get more calls that were close from the home plate ump than less. Beckett gave up another run in the 5th on an RBI double to Willingham. Beckett’s pitching line was 6 IP, 100 pitches, 2 R, 3 BBs, 5 Ks. It would have been great if he could have gone deeper into the game, however all in all it was a pretty good outing from Beckett. Beckett was followed by 3 innings of scoreless relief from the bullpen. You heard me. 3 innings of SCORELESS relief from the bullpen. Scott Atchison pitched two innings and Matt Albers pitched a scoreless 9th to close out the game.
Now, the bats came to play as well. The Sox got to Twins Blackburn early. Sweeney scored the first run on an RBI double. David Ortiz got an RBI single and then Ross got an RBI sac grounder. Sox lead 3-0. In the 3rd inning, David Ortiz hit a 2 run HR to give the Sox a 5-1 lead. In the 4th, Mike Aviles got in on the HR party. Sox lead 6-1. That was followed by an RBI single from Gonzo. Sox 7-1. In the 5th, the Sox got into an RBI double party. Aviles, Pedey and Gonzo all hit RBI doubles. Sox lead 10-1. The Sox scored their last run in the 8th on a DMac sac grounder. Sox 11-2.
David Ortiz is continuing to KILL IT at the plate. He was 2 for 4 and right now his batting avg is .444. Mike Aviles is also showing himself to be a hitting machine by going 4 for 5. Gonzo went 3 for 3 with a walk. Youk went 2 for 4 on the night as well, so his bat might not be as dead as people have reported. Marlon Byrd also has as many hits in 2 games with the Sox as he did with all the game he played for the Cubs. All in all, it was a nice night for the Red Sox bats.
(Photo Credit: Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
Red Sox 11 Twins 2 BOXSCORE
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