July 13, 2008
Sox Head to Break with Win Over O's
Boston 7, Baltimore 3
Heading into the All Star Break, the Red Sox should be feeling good about themselves. Top starter Josh Beckett looked impressive once again in holding the Orioles to just one run over seven innings in leading Boston to their sixty-fourth victory of the season, tops in baseball.
After being passed over for the annual All Star Game, Beckett went out and dominate the O's, allowing one run on a Scott Moore forth inning double before settling down and keeping the Orioles in check.
David Oritz got the Sox started early with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first against Adam Loewen. With one-out, Kevin Youkilis lined a double to the left-field corner before Ortiz took the young left-hander deep to center for his twenty-first home run of the season.
In the third, J.D. Drew added a RBI-double to put Boston ahead by three before the O's cut into the lead. A pair of two-out doubles by Aubrey Huff and Moore brought the O's within two with the tying run at the plate, but Beckett was able to strike out Adam Jones on three pitches to end the threat.
"They kept threatening, but Becks kept shutting the door," manager Terry Francona said afterwards. "Josh is our ace, we go where he takes us, and games like this, to bounce back from yesterday, are great for the guys. We head into the break on a good note, get refreshed and come back to the ballpark looking to keep going."
In the 5th, the Sox broke open the tight game on a two RBI single by Dustin Pedroia. With one run already in and the bases loaded, Pedroia slapped a single past Brian Roberts at second base to score Ortiz and Mike Lowell.
With a five run lead, Beckett cruised over the final two innings, before turning the game over to Hideki Okajima, who surrendered a pair of solo home runs in the eighth to Nick Markakis and Aubrey Huff to cut the lead to 6-3. A Jason Varitek solo shot in the bottom of the eight raised the cushion back to four runs as Okajima pitched a perfect ninth to close out the game.
W: Beckett (9-4) L: Loewen (1-3)
Player of the Game: Josh Beckett (7.0 IP, 5 Hs, R, 5 K's, BB, 103 PI)
Around the League:
...The Florida Marlins traded 1B Mike Jacobs (.157 avg., 2 HRs, 11 RBIs) to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for All Star 2B Ray Durham (.362, 7 HRs, 40 RBIs)...Boston DH David Ortiz (.500, 2 HRs, 8 RBIs) was named AL Player of the Week. Rafael Furcal (.560, 2 HRs, 9 RBIs) was named NL Player of the Week...