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Thursday, June 25, 2009

Thanks for playing Nationals


Another night in DC: another Red Sox win and another new attendance record at Nationals Park. Boston beat Washington 6-4 last night behind the power of David Ortiz and Jason Varitek.

Anderson Hernandez gave the Nationals (20-49) a 1-0 lead in the second with an RBI single.

From there, the Red Sox (44-27) reeled off six straight runs to take command of the game. Ortiz had the biggest blow, a three-run moonshot to center in the fourth gave Boston a 3-1 lead.

In the fifth, Dustin Pedroia (2 hits) had an RBI single which scored Nick Green (who was almost impaled earlier by an exploding bat, really).

One inning later, Varitek hit a two-run shot of his own to the second deck in right, that also scored Ortiz to give the Sox a 6-1 lead.

Much like Brad Penny the night before, Boston pitcher Jon Lester (6-6) was not great (especially for his high standards) but he gave his team six consistent innings. He gave up three runs on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

The Nationals made it somewhat interesting as Josh Willingham hit a two-run double in the sixth and Cristian Guzman (2 hits, walk) added an RBI triple in the seventh.

Jonathan Papelbon recorded his 17th save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth, a rarity for him these days.

Boston looks for the sweep tonight and even more importantly, we get our first glimpse of John Smoltz. He'll be limited to 85-90 pitches (so probably 5 or 6 innings) but who knows what to expect from the 42-year-old future Hall of Famer.

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