The Oakland Athletics possess what has to be one of the worst lineups in baseball. It's going to be a struggle for them to score runs and win games all year. Still, you can't help but be encouraged if you're a Red Sox fan by the events of yesterday's game.
The Red Sox (3-1) beat the A's, 5-0, behind 6.2 scoreless innings by Jon Lester (3 hits, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts).
For the second day in a row, Boston got a great outing from someone not named Josh Beckett. Just like Dice-K, Lester has struggled early in his MLB career with high pitch counts and bad innings. Yet it only took him 94 pitches to get 20 outs yesterday.
Rich Harden (5 innings, 4 hits, 4 walks, 6 strikeouts) pitched well for the A's (1-3) but Boston got to Oakland's less than impressive bullpen for all five runs.
David Ortiz got his first two hits of the season, including a two-run homer to right off former Sox reliever Alan Embree.
After not delivering early in the game with the bases loaded, Boston cashed in during a two-run eighth. Dustin Pedroia (2 hits) had an RBI single followed by Kevin Youkilis's (2 hits) RBI single, both off another former Sox scrub, Lenny DiNardo.
Jason Varitek (2 hits) added a solo home run off Huston Street in the ninth, payback for his double that should have been a homer the night before. In all, the Red Sox pounded out 13 hits including two from Alex Cora and Coco Crisp.
Relievers Bryan Corey (1.1 innings, 2 strikeouts) and Manny Delcarmen combined to pitch a scoreless eighth and ninth.
Boston flew to Toronto last night and will play a three-game set with the Blue Jays starting tomorrow night.
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