At this moment, it's all good on Yawkey Way. The Red Sox debuted hideous new camoflauge jerseys & hats in honor of Memorial Day (cha-ching) and Alfredo Aceves had a solid start (shocking I know) in a 8-3 win over the Phillies at Fenway Park. With Boston's (32-20 overall, 17-11 home) victory over Philadelphia (24-27 overall, 13-15 away) in its first interleague game of the season, the Red Sox regained first place in the AL East since the Yankees fell to the Mets.
Boston has won four games in a row, five of its last six and 10 of its last 13 to go a season-high 12 games over .500. With Clay Buchholz temporarily sidelined, Aceves (2-1) stepped in and pitched six innings, allowing one earned run on seven hits with four strikeouts and three walks. Philadelphia is a bit of a mess but anytime Aceves can pitch that well, you have to be thrilled since it doesn't happen that often anymore.
Poor rookie Tyler Cloyd (1-1) was a sacrificial lamb for the Phillies. In 2.1 innings, he allowed six earned runs on nine hits with two strikeouts and a walk. Thanks for showing up Tyler.
Boston had 15 hits, led by Jacoby Ellsbury (3 hits, 2 doubles, run, RBI), Mike Napoli (homer, double, 2 RBIs, 2 runs, walk), Stephen Drew (2 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBIs, 2 walks), Jarrod Saltalamacchia (2 hits, RBI) and David Ortiz (2 hits, double, walk, RBI).
Not sure if you've noticed yet but Dustin Pedroia is playing at an MVP level and yes, I know it's still only May so who cares? He hit a two-run homer around Peskey's Pole in the first inning (his third homer of the season) and two batters later, Napoli followed with an opposite field bomb of his own (his eighth of the season) for a 3-0 Red Sox advantage.
Something called an Erik Kratz hit a solo homer in the third inning but that was Aceves' only real mistake. Boston added three runs in the home half of the frame on Napoli's RBI double, Drew's RBI single and Ellsbury's RBI double. Salty had an RBI single in the fifth and another run scored on the play thanks to a Phillies error.
Domonic Brown hit a two-run homer in the eighth for Philadelphia and Drew rounded out the long but satisfying game with a bases loaded walk later in the eighth.
The struggling Ryan Dempster (2-5) faces a big challenge tomorrow night (7:10 p.m., NESN) in the form or Cliff Lee (5-2) who is still one of the best pitchers in MLB. It's the last game of this home-and-home set at Fenway, meaning under the superior AL rules. Get ready to see Ortiz in the field starting on Wednesday along with the pitchers being forced to bat!
UPDATE 5/28: Franklin Morales was activated and Aceves was sent back to Pawtucket, thanks for playing Alfredo!
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