If Buchholz Ever Decides To Return This Season, The Red Sox Would Have Some Kind of Rotation

They are doing it in many different ways and the bottom line is that the Red Sox continue to stack up victories and series wins in 2013, a far cry from 2012 (only 1 win away from last year's pathetic total). Boston (68-45 overall, 39-21 home) moved to a season-high 23 games over .500 with a 4-0 shutout of the Diamondbacks (56-55 overall, 26-31 away) this afternoon at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox have the most wins in MLB, one more than the Braves and Pirates, and they won the series (2-1) while wrapping up a memorable homestand (5-2 with a pair of walk-off wins and Jake Peavy's debut being the main highlights besides today). They also lead MLB with 23 series wins.

There was a time when Felix Doubront (8-5) could be counted on for short outings and high pitch counts. This latest quality start marked 15 straight outings where he's given up three runs or less, not bad right? He went seven solid innings, allowing five hits with five strikeouts. My two favorite numbers for him: 95 pitches and zero walks.

Rookie Drake Britton still hasn't allowed a run in MLB, he pitched a scoreless eighth and Koji Uehara had a scoreless ninth (don't ask me why he appeared with a four-run lead). Matt Thornton left with an oblique injury, he was the first guy out of Boston's bullpen.

Brandon McCarthy (2-5) kept Boston off the scoreboard for four innings but Jacoby Ellsbury changed that with a sacrifice fly in the fifth. Dustin Pedroia added an RBI double two batters later.

The Red Sox added two more runs in the sixth which was more than enough. Ellsbury and Shane Victorino (2 hits) each had RBI singles. I'd say that the top of the lineup got it done today for Boston. Ellsbury owed his RBI to Arizona right fielder Gerardo Parra who lost his easy fly ball in the sun, this came after a first inning error by Parra.

Cody Ross and Martin Prado each had a pair of singles for the Diamondbacks in the loss.

Boston will play 16 of its next 19 games on the road. There next 10 contests are all away from Fenway (longest road trip of the season), starting with three in Houston (36-74, 5th in NL West)-MLB's worst team-beginning tomorrow night (8:10, NESN) with Texas native John Lackey (7-8) vs. rookie Brett Oberholtzer (1-0). Knuckleballer Steven Wright (2-0) makes his first career MLB start on Tuesday (8:10, NESN) vs. Jordan Lyles (4-5). Ryan Dempster (6-8) closes it out at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday (8:10, NESN) against another rookie-Jarred Cosart (1-0). The Red Sox swept a four-game series with the Astros April 25-28 at Fenway.

That's followed by four against the red-hot Royals (seriously) in Kansas City and three in Toronto against the hapless Blue Jays. Boston's next game at Fenway isn't until August 16 vs. Yankees.

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Red Sox Reclaim 1st Place in AL East With Epic 5-4 15-Inning Win Over Mariners

I try to steer clear of using tired clichés like "Team of Destiny"-haha what does that even mean? However, when it comes to this edition of the Red Sox and all the amazing wins they seem to pull out of their asses, you have to wonder if something special is brewing here. Tonight, they waged a 15-inning marathon (5:03) with the Mariners (longest game of the season so far) and lived to tell the tale after Stephen Drew's (2 hits, walk) walk-off single won it 5-4 at Fenway Park.

The game was so long that it started on Wednesday and ended on Thursday, even better it was July when the evening began and August when Drew wrapped it up. The Red Sox lead MLB with 10 walk-off wins in 2013, their most since they had 10 in 1996. They are also tied with the Pirates for most wins in MLB, haha who would have guessed that happening on August 1?

Boston (65-44 overall, 36-20 home) was rewarded with a Rays loss earlier in the night meaning that this victory propelled them back into first place in the AL East. It feels like a different guy steps up in nearly every win and along with Drew, we should also heap praise on rookie reliever Drake Britton (1-0) who picked up his first MLB win with two scoreless innings (2 strikeouts) to close it out.

John Lackey went seven innings, allowing three earned runs on eight hits with six strikeouts and one walk. Mariners (50-57 overall, 21-29 away) hurler Hisashi Iwakuma was effective (5.2 innings, 2 runs, 7 hits, 4 strikeouts, 2 walks) but his pitch count was much too high (102) to last very long.

As is usually the case with extra innings games, there were some whacky numbers. Seattle had 16 hits to Boston's 12 but the Red Sox saw 44 more pitches (246-202). Boston left 13 men on base, one more than Seattle. The Red Sox were 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position while the Mariners were 3 for 11.

Kyle Seager (3 for 6, walk) and Kendry Morales (3 for 4) continued to rake against Boston. Dustin Pedroia (2 hits, walk), Shane Victorino (2 hits, run, walk), Jarrod Saltalamacchia (2 for 7) and Drew all had multiple hits in the victory.

Seager gave Seattle a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the fourth. Boston tied it on a gift by Nick Franklin (0 for 7 with 4 strikeouts)-an error-and it became 2-1 on Pedroia's ground out.

Morales drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth and the Mariners took their final lead (3-2) later in the frame on an RBI single by Raul Ibanez (2 hits).

Dustin Pedroia hit his second two-run homer in as many nights, his eighth of the season, in the sixth for a 4-3 Red Sox advantage. Seager tied it in the eighth with a solo homer.

Boston's bullpen was outstanding which was ironic since Red Sox GM Ben Cherrington didn't make any more moves at the Trade Deadline for relievers (like many expected) or anyone else for that matter. Koji Uehara threw two scoreless innings with three strikeouts. Matt Thornton had a scoreless 11th then Craig Breslow pitched two scoreless innings and Britton did his thing.

The Red Sox should have ended it in the 14th when Brandon Snyder led off with a double then was bunted over to third by Jacoby Ellsbury. Victorino hit a shallow fly ball to center and Michael Saunders gunned out Snyder at the plate by a few feet. Why they felt the need to send him I'll never know, especially with Pedroia and David Ortiz due up next.

Jonny Gomes gave them a chance to win it in the Bottom 15th after he robbed Saunders of a hit then doubled up old man Raul Ibanez at second base by running it in himself for the ultra rare unassisted double play to end the Top 15th. I don't know if I've ever seen that happen before in MLB.

Boston goes for the series sweep tomorrow night (7:10, NESN) and it promises to be difficult to pull off since Felix Hernandez (11-4) takes the ball for the Mariners vs. Ryan Dempster (6-8). Jake Peavy is expected to make his Red Sox debut on Saturday night against Diamondbacks.

UPDATE 8/1: It was confirmed today that Peavy will start on Saturday and Jose De La Torre was sent down to Pawtucket. With last night's extra long contest, Boston needed another reliever so they sent Brandon Workman down and activated Steven Wright.

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Red Sox Beat Yankees 8-7 In 11 Innings On Mike Napoli's 2nd Home Run of the Game

It took a combined 405 pitches (203 for New York and 202 for Boston) and four hours and 46 minutes but the Red Sox didn't mind at all since Mike Napoli sent Fenway Park home happy with a walk-off solo homer in the 11th off Adam Warren (1-1) for an 8-7 Red Sox (60-40 overall, 33-17 home) win over Yankees (52-46 overall, 24-23 away). Boston improved to 6-4 in extra innings this season and they won their ninth contest in walk-off fashion (tied for 2011 for the most since 2006).

The Red Sox took two of three from the Yankees this weekend to take a healthy seven-game lead over them and tonight it was about their offense coming through just enough to overcome three errors and an early 3-0 lead by the Yankees in the second inning plus a 7-3 led for the Red Sox that they blew. Boston knew that Tampa Bay and Baltimore-their main competitors in the AL East this season-had already won by the time this ended right before 1 a.m. EST so they had to win to keep the Rays 1.5 games behind and the Orioles 3.5 in back of Boston. The Red Sox still have the most wins in MLB although they've played four more games than the Cardinals (59 wins).

With Jon Lester's start getting pushed back a few extra days, Ryan Dempster got the ball and predictably pitched mediocre (5.1 innings, 5 runs, 3 earned runs, 6 hits, 4 strikeouts, 4 walks) but that's more than you can say for CC Sabathia. The former Yankees ace is a shell of himself for whatever reason: 5 innings, 7 earned runs, 9 hits, 5 strikeouts, 2 walks.

Brett Gardner (3 for 4 with run, RBI, 2 walks, stolen base) scored New York's first run on a throwing error by Boston. The Yankees tacked on another run thanks to Vernon Wells' RBI single and Robinson Cano's (3 for 5 with two RBIs and walk) RBI single in the second inning.

Boston got on the board in the third on Dustin Pedroia's RBI single then Napoli put them ahead with a three-run homer over the Monster (his 12th of the season). Shane Victorino's (2 hits, 2 stolen bases) high chopper to left field scored two runs in the fourth and Jonny Gomes cranked a solo homer over the Monster in the fifth (his 8th of the season) for a 7-3 Red Sox advantage. Jacoby Ellsbury was 2 for 4 with a double, run, walk and stolen base in the win.

Gardner and Cano chipped into the lead with a pair of RBI singles in the sixth while Chris Stewart's RBI single cut it to 7-6 and a run scored on a groundout. Eduardo Nunez was 3 for 4 with two runs and a stolen base.

Some of the more obscure members of the Red Sox bullpen saved them in this game: Matt Thornton pitched a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts, Koji Uehara had a scoreless ninth with two strikeouts, rookie Drake Britton appeared for the second straight day and got a scoreless 10th before Pedro Beato (1-0) held serve for the home team in the 11th.

Tampa Bay (58-41 overall, 2nd in AL East) is the hottest team in MLB: a scorching 17-2 in their last 19 games and they come to Fenway for a pivotal four-game series beginning tomorrow night (7:10, NESN) with rookie Brandon Workman (0-0) facing Matt Moore (13-3). Lester (8-6) takes on Roberto Hernandez (5-10) on Tuesday (7:10, NESN), Felix Doubront (7-3) meets David Price (4-5) on Wednesday (7:10, NESN) and John Lackey (7-7) opposes Jeremy Hellickson (9-3) on Thursday (7:10, NESN).

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