Red Sox Are 1st AL Team To 50 Wins This Season, Thanks To Walk-Off Error By Blue Jays

Who knows if they'll keep it up the rest of the season but for now, we can reasonably conclude that things are going the Red Sox' way when it comes to wins and losses. Boston (50-34 overall, 28-16 home) beat Toronto (40-41 overall, 18-24 away) 5-4 at Fenway Park to take three of four in the series and keep the best record in the AL. This is only the fourth time in franchise history that they've reached 50 wins before July, the last time was in 2008.

The Red Sox concluded June as the first team in the American League to reach 50 wins and it happened in bizarre fashion since Shane Victorino's easy chopper to first baseman Josh Thole (a defensive sub for Adam Lind who left with back tightness) went under his glove and allowed pinch runner/journeyman Jonathan Diaz to score the winning run. Did I mention that Brandon Snyder (2 for 4) had a two-run double in the second for Boston? Or how about how Ryan Dempster (5.1 innings, 2 earned runs, 7 hits, 2 strikeouts, 3 walks) and Craig Breslow wiggled out of a bases loaded no out jam in the sixth without allowing a run?

Ryan Lavarnway fittingly began the strange game with an ground-rule RBI double in the second. Toronto cut it to 3-2 in the fourth on Colby Rasmus' (2 hits) RBI single and a ground out by Maicer Izturis.

Jonny Gomes put Boston back up by two runs with an RBI double in the fifth. The Blue Jays tied it with solo homers for Jose Reyes in the seventh and Jose Bautista (3 hits) in the ninth which spoiled the fourth save in five days for Koji Uehara (1-0).

Daniel Nava was 2 for 4 with a run in the victory while Edwin Encarnacion (2 for 5 with run) and Rajai Davis (2 for 5 with run and stolen base) each had multiple hits in the loss.

Andrew Miller pitched 1.2 scoreless innings of relief for the Red Sox with a pair of strikeouts, his sixth hold of the season.

Boston gets tomorrow off before they wrap up the final series of this long and productive homestand (5-1) with an interleague matchup: three games against San Diego (40-42 overall, 3rd in NL West). John Lackey (5-5) faces rookie Robbie Erlin (1-0) on Tuesday (7:10, NESN), Jon Lester (8-4) is scheduled to take on Edinson Volquez (6-6) on Wednesday (7:10, NESN) and on the Fourth of July (1:35, NESN) rookie Allen Webster (0-2) gets the ball opposite Eric Stults (6-6).

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

John Farrell Must Be Psyched To Be Out Of That Dump Aka Toronto

It is adorable how Toronto is pretending to care about the Blue Jays for a few days while their old manager-John Farrell-is in town with his new team. FYI the Blue Jays haven't made the playoffs in 20 years, since they won the World Series in 1993. Tonight in the series opener at a nearly sold out (which never happens) Rogers Centre, Boston (3-1 overall, 3-1 away) beat Toronto (1-3 overall, 1-3 home) 6-4.

The Red Sox jumped out to a 4-1 lead by the fifth inning but the Blue Jays tied it in the seventh before Boston scored single runs in the eighth and ninth.

Neither Felix Doubront (5 IP, 3 runs, 9 hits, 6 strikeouts, 0 walks) nor Josh Johnson (6 IP, 4 runs, 3 earned runs, 9 hits, 6 strikeouts, 2 walks) were on top of their games but who could blame them since Boston pounded out 12 hits (including 5 extra base hits) and worked six walks while Toronto had 12 hits (8 for extra bases).

The story for the Red Sox was their first two homers of the season along with some more stellar relief. Jacoby Ellsbury plated the first run of the game, in the second inning, with an RBI single. Mark DeRosa tied it with a sacrifice fly in the home half of the inning but Pedro Ciriaco (2 hits, stolen base) had an RBI single in the fourth after Jose Iglesias left the game (he was hit by a pitch on the elbow).

In the fifth inning, Mike Napoli's first homer (a two-run bomb) for Boston was a memorable one for a couple reasons: 1) it went to the opposite field and 2) it was the first Red Sox home run of 2013. Those runs proved to be vital since DeRosa cut it to 4-2 with a solo shot in the bottom of the fifth and Jose Reyes (4 for 5, 2 doubles, 2 runs) made it 4-3 with an RBI double. Reyes tied it with a solo homer in the seventh off Junichi Tazawa (1-0), who still ended up with the win.

Koji Uehara had a 1-2-3 sixth with two strikeouts for the Red Sox, Andrew Bailey had a scoreless eighth and Joel Hanrahan submitted a scoreless ninth for his second save of the season. Boston scored its last two runs with a ground out by Napoli in the eighth and a solo homer by Will Middlebrooks (double) in the ninth.

Dustin Pedroia was 2 for 3 with a double, run and walk while Shane Victorino was 2 for 5 with two runs. Rajai Davis was the only other Blue Jay with multiple hits, he was 2 for 4 with a double and run. The two teams combined to go 2 for 29 (seriously) with runners in scoring position but at least Boston made a few count (2 for 19) whereas Toronto was 0 for 10. Ouch.

Much like I boycotted Josh Beckett's starts last season, I plan to take the same action beginning tomorrow afternoon (1:07, NESN) as John Lackey makes his 2013 debut against J.A. Happ.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

Doubront Flirts With No-Hitter & Red Sox Offense Finally Explodes

Not to get all Ken Burns on you (making you fall asleep instantly) but baseball will always be a simple game: if you get good starting pitching and timely hitting, your team will be tough to beat.

For once this season, the Red Sox (31-32, 17-13 away) got both of those key elements in a 10-2 triumph vs. the Marlins (32-31, 17-18 home) this evening at Marlins Amusement Park.

Miami is reeling (no pun intended) as they've lost eight of their last nine games. Boston heads out of town with a satisfying interleague series win (2-1). The two teams will meet again next week as the Marlins come to Fenway Park for three games (June 19-21).

Felix Doubront (7-3) carried a no-hitter for 5.2 innings before Jose Reyes emphatically ended it with a long solo homer (his 2nd of the season) in the sixth inning. Justin Ruggiano's fielder's choice scored a run in the seventh but that's all Miami would get against Doubront. He went seven strong innings (the longest outing of his short pro career), allowing two earned runs on three hits with a career-high nine strikeouts and one walk.

Boston's offense kept chipping away (14 hits) at the Marlins and it paid off as they forced Miami manager Ozzie Guillen to use six pitchers. Ricky Nolasco (6-5) took the loss after allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits in six innings with four strikeouts and a walk.

Save these numbers in your head since they won't happen again this season: the Red Sox' top four hitters combined to have nine hits, seven RBIs and six runs. Plus, Boston was 7-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

Scott Podsednik (2 runs, 2 hits) made it 1-0 with a groundout in the third inning. David Ortiz (3 RBIs, 2 hits) had an opposite field home run (his 15th of the season) in the fourth. The Red Sox got some insurance in the sixth on Adrian Gonzalez's (3 hits, 2 RBIs) RBI single and a sacrifice fly by Ortiz that opened up a 4-0 advantage.

Things went bananas (in a good way) in the eighth as the Red Sox piled up six more runs after 11 men came to the plate. Nick Punto started the inning with a pinch hit double and he later added a two-run RBI single for the final run. In between that, Dustin Pedroia (2 hits, 2 runs), Gonzalez and Ortiz had three run-scoring singles in a row. Jarrod Saltalamacchia plated another run with a sacrifice fly.

Thankfully, tomorrow is an off-day so we can all mentally prepare for the hype surrounding Boston's first trip to Wrigley Field since 2005. The Cubs (21-41) are the worst team in MLB but that doesn't mean this weekend shouldn't be fun since these two teams so rarely play each other (and yes I remember the Cubs were in Boston last season).

Day drinking should be especially helpful on Friday (2:20 p.m., NESN) as Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-1) faces Ryan Dempster (2-3). Jon Lester (3-4) gets former Notre Dame wide receiver Jeff Samardzija (5-4) Saturday night (7:15 p.m., Fox) and Josh Beckett (4-7) opposes Paul Maholm (4-5) Sunday night (8:00 p.m., ESPN).

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate