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A LOST YEAR WITH
BOBBY V ...
The Red Sox pull out of
their skid
August 24, 2012 ... Tonight's
4-3 victory over the Royals was precisely what the Red Sox needed to
purge themselves of the bad karma that has haunted their 100th
anniversary season at Fenway Park.
A crowd of
37,227 seemed energized not only by news of the potential blockbuster trade of
Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett to the Dodgers, but also by the
return of designated hitter David Ortiz, who was activated from the disabled
list after missing 35 games with a strained right Achilles' tendon.
Ortiz drove
in Boston's first two runs with a single to center in the first inning. He then
doubled to center in the third inning, showing a little more giddy-up than he
did in his first at-bat.
Third
baseman Pedro Ciriaco drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with a two-run double
to left in the seventh off Kelvin Herrera, who had relieved starter Bruce Chen.
Ciriaco has hit safely in 17 of his last 22 games, batting .368 with six doubles
and eight RBIs in that span.
Jon Lester
(8-10) won for the third consecutive outing, working seven innings. He allowed
three runs on six hits, including a solo homer by Eric Hosmer in the third, and
had four walks and six strikeouts. Lester departed in the eighth with a left
hamstring cramp after running the count to 3-and-0 on leadoff batter Billy
Butler.
After
snapping a seven-start winless streak with back-to-back wins over the Indians
(14-1) and Yankees (4-1), Lester helped the Sox (60-66) snap a four-game losing
streak, with Thursday's 14-13, 10-inning loss to the Angels still lingering. But
he stumbled in the third, allowing the Royals to tie it, and then allowed the
visitors to take a 3-2 lead on Johnny Giavotella's bases-loaded infield single
in the fourth. Lester minimized the damage in the fourth by striking out Lorenzo
Cain (swinging) and getting Alcides Escobar to ground into a force-out. He
settled down and retired nine of the next 10 batters.
After Lester
departed, Vicente Padilla, Andrew Miller, and Andrew Bailey got one out apiece
in the eighth, and Bailey retired the Royals in 1-2-3 fashion in the ninth for
his first save of the season. |
