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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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BOSTON STRONG - April 24, 2013 ... Andrew Bailey turned in perhaps his most dominant performance of the season while closing out Wednesday's 6-5 victory over the Oakland Athletics at Fenway Park. In succession, he struck out John Jaso, Seth Smith and Jed Lowrie. They all went down swinging. It was a 19-pitch display of dominance that reminded people why Bailey was a two-time All-Star with Oakland, and why the Red Sox traded for him in the first place in December of 2011. Bailey saved the win for Jon Lester, who is now 4-0 on the season. In fact, Lester and Clay Buchholz are a combined 8-0, which is the biggest reason Boston is 14-7 and has been in first place for every day of the season. In this one, Lester had to grind it out, throwing 113 pitches over 5 2/3 innings. The lefty gave up six hits and three runs, walking six and striking out five. Impressive as they were when David Ortiz was out of the lineup, the Red Sox look a lot more potent with the big slugger occupying the cleanup spot. Ortiz was in the middle of both of his team's key rallies on Wednesday afternoon, belting a double off the Green Monster to jump-start a three-run rally in the bottom of the fourth and going the other way for an RBI single to give his team insurance in the three-run sixth. In his first four games since August, Ortiz is batting .500 (8-for-16). Dustin Pedroia had a pair of hits in the No. 3 spot in the lineup and Mike Napoli delivered yet another key hit, an RBI double, from the fifth spot. A 3-4-5 combo of Pedroia, Ortiz and Napoli has the potential to be a dangerous one throughout the season. Stephen Drew, who has been slumping since his return from a concussion, came up with a big hit, a two-out, two-run triple in the fourth. There were some bumps in the road for Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara, both of whom gave up a run, but Bailey put up an impenetrable wall in the ninth and took it home. John Lackey pitched a solid 3 2/3 innings for Portland Monday night, not giving up any runs and striking out five. He was back at Fenway Tuesday and is scheduled to throw in the bullpen Thursday. His next start will be Sunday, and it sounds likely that it will be against the Astros. Lefthanded reliever Craig Breslow did not get an out in his rehab appearance at Portland. He faced four batters in the first inning and allowed three hits and a walk. He was charged with three runs. Daniel Bard was in the Sox clubhouse early in the morning to reclaim his No. 51. Ryan Dempster has his old locker, so Bard took up residence in a new spot near the door. Security officials at Fenway Park are closely examining all bags and checking fans with hand-held metal detectors in the wake of the Marathon bombings. Give yourself some extra time if you're coming to a game. Another set of police officers from Watertown were introduced after the fourth inning and got a big ovation from the crowd. Special assistant to the general manager Jason Varitek is spending time with Single A Salem this week. The primary catcher there, Blake Swihart, is one of the organization's best prospects. |
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