Every once in a while, J.D. Drew does something that makes you go, "wow, this guy is really talented." That moment of greatness is usually shortly followed by an injury or missing a game due to vertigo (no lie, it happened last Friday). Drew is grossly overpaid and has never lived up to high expectations his whole career but last night he was the best player on the field.
Finally home again at Fenway, the Red Sox (36-25) defeated the Tampa Bay Rays (35-23), 7-4, to cut the Rays' first-place lead to half a game.
Drew was 2 for 3 with a walk, double, home run, two runs scored and two outstanding catches in right field. It was a welcome contribution as Boston played its third straight game without David Ortiz. Apparently, Ortiz could miss anywhere from a few weeks to the rest of the season, depending on how his wrist heals.
Rookie Justin Masterson improved to 2-0 despite having his worst start of his major league career (3 games). Masterson went six innings, giving up four runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
He gave up two home runs (a lead off homer to Akinori Iwamura and a two-run bomb by Carlos Pena) but he seems to be more efficient than Jon Lester or Clay Buchholz. He only threw 91 pitches.
Mike Lowell and Coco Crisp had the biggest hits for Boston. Lowell had a two-run homer in the second off Matt Garza (4-2) which put the Sox up 2-1 while Coco delivered a two-run double in the sixth which gave Boston a 6-4 lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Manny Delcarmen pitched a scoreless seventh and Craig Hansen added a clean eighth before Jonathan Papelbon struck out two in the ninth for his 17th save.
Weather permitting, Edwin Jackson will face Josh Beckett tonight.
No comments:
Post a Comment