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DUSTIN PEDROIA |
A LOST YEAR WITH
BOBBY V ...
Pedroia and Middlebrooks tee
off
against Max Scherzer
July 30, 2012 ... The
Red Sox opened a 10-game homestand with a 7-3 victory over the
Detroit Tigers before an announced Fenway Park crowd of 37,784. Clay
Buchholz went eight innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on
five hits, including a homer by Austin Jackson on the second pitch of
the game.
Buchholz was
the beneficiary of 10 Sox hits, including two-run homers by Dustin Pedroia and
Will Middlebrooks. Both were on 1-and-2 pitches. Pedroia broke a 2-2 tie in the
sixth when he took a fastball from Detroit starter Max Scherzer (10-6) and
belted it into the Green Monster seats. It scored Carl Crawford, who had drawn a
leadoff walk.
Middlebrooks, after striking out in his first three at-bats against Scherzer,
took out his frustration on Phil Coke in the eighth when he rifled a fastball
into the Monster seats after seeing three consecutive changeups.
Although he
gave up the leadoff homer to Jackson, Buchholz held the Tigers to one run on two
hits in the first, and the Sox picked him up in the bottom of the frame, scoring
a pair to take a 2-1 lead. After Jacoby Ellsbury walked, Crawford (1 for 3, 2
runs, 1 RBI) drove him in with a triple to left. Pedroia gave the Sox a 2-1 lead
when he grounded to short, scoring Crawford.
Buchholz had
a 1-2-3 inning in the second, needing only six pitches as Brennan Boesch flied
to left and Jhonny Peralta and Alex Avila each grounded to second. The Tigers
tied it in the third when Omar Infante tripled to right and scored on Miguel
Cabrera's ground single up the middle. Detroit threatened to tack on more when
Buchholz issued a walk to Prince Fielder that loaded the bases for Delmon Young.
After a visit from pitching coach Bob McClure, Buchholz got Young to ground into
a 6-4-3 double play.
Pedroia's
homer off Scherzer gave the Sox the buffer they needed when the Tigers scored
another run in the seventh on Alex Avila's double to right-center that scored
Boesch, who reached on a throwing error by catcher Kelly Shoppach. Scherzer, who
fanned nine in 6 1/3 innings, was chased in the seventh when he gave up a
leadoff triple to Shoppach. It was the second triple of Shoppach's career; both
have come this season. After Pedro Ciriaco flied to left, Ellsbury drove in
Shoppach with a sharp single to right that caused Tigers manager Jim Leyland to
quickly emerge with the hook after the Sox made it 5-3. Middlebrooks' blast put
the game out of reach as the Sox won for the third straight time.
Suddenly,
with the trade deadline looming, the Sox are starting to put something together.
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