The Sox ended a really productive road trip and were hoping that trend continued as they headed home. Clay Buchholz was on the mound for the Sox. Clay hoped to that this outing would head him in the right direction since he’s really struggled this year.
Clay wasn’t good. He wasn’t bad. All in all, he was meh. Actually, he was pretty good until he hit the 7th inning. He seemed to be dealing and looked like he was going to have a great outing, however he seemed to just hit the wall in the 7th with 2 outs. Clay gave up a hit and 2 walks and was trying to get out of the inning. Clay ended up being beaten by two former Sox. Coco Crisp hit a 2 run RBI single and was followed by Josh Reddick hitting a 3 run HR. Suddenly what was looking like a great outing suddenly was not so much. Buchholz’ line for the night was 6.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 5 BBs, 5 Ks. Junichi Tazawa came out in relief of Buchholz and he had some struggle as well. Tazawa gave up a single, a hit by pitch and then the bases got loaded on a fielding error from Nick Punto. The bases were loaded and still no third out. Vicente Padilla came out and got a K for the final out. Phew. In the 8th, Atchison came into the game and without getting an out, he loaded the bases himself. Luckily this time the former Sox helped us out. Atchison got Crisp to K for the first out. Then Franklin Morales came into the game and behind some sick defense from Dustin Pedroia, he got Josh Reddick to hit into an inning ending double play. Phew. Again.
Luckily the Sox bats were hot last night. Sox got on the board in the 2nd. David Ortiz hit a line drive solo HR. Sox 1-1. Marlon Byrd got his first RBI at Fenway with the Sox. Sox 2-1. Aviles followed it with an RBI single of his own. Sox 3-1. Gonzalez finished the inning reaching on a scoring error and Aviles was able to score on the play. In the 3rd inning, Darnell McDonald hit a 2 run HR. Sox 6-1. In the 5th inning, the HR party continued. David Ortiz hit his 2nd HR of the night. Sox 7-1. This is the first time in his career he has hit multiple HRs off a lefty. Marlon Byrd hit an RBI double. Sox 8-1. To finish out the inning, Mike Aviles hit a 3 run HR. Sox lead 11-1.
Photo Credit: Jim Rogash/Getty Images
It’s lucky the Sox bats went to score 11 runs since after the 7th inning, it felt like the Sox were clinging to a 5 run lead. In the 9th inning, Alfredo Aceves came out for a non save situation that sure seemed like a save. Aceves gave up a double, but locked down the inning with no damage. Sox win 11-6. It’s a shame we had to use our whole bullpen on a night that seemed like Buch was rolling to an easy win. Let’s hope that Doubront can go long into the game tonight.
Still. Red Sox win! Dirty Water Y’all!
Red Sox 11 Atheltics 6 BOXSCORE
WP: Buchholz (3-1) LP: Milone (3-2)
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