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EDWIN ENCARNACION |
BOSTON STRONG -
THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION
Five game winning streak ends
with
a slugfest in Toronto
April 30, 2013 ...
The Red Sox clawed and battled all game after playing the majority of Tuesday night's contest from behind at the Rogers Centre. And once Boston finally gained its first lead of the game and silenced a crowd of 22,195 in the seventh, it was quickly relinquished
in the bottom half of the frame and the team never recovered.
Junichi Tazawa surrendered a two-run homer to Edwin Encarnacion in the seventh inning, resulting in the pivotal blow in the Red Sox's 9-7 loss to the Blue Jays in the first of a three-game set at Rogers Centre. With two outs and none on, Tazawa walked Jose
Bautista before Encarnacion blasted the two-run shot to center field for his second homer of the game, putting Toronto ahead, 8-7. Encarnacion also hit a two-run shot into the 500 level in left field in the fifth inning off starter Jon Lester.
It wasn't Lester's strongest performance, and he said he felt bad that Tazawa was credited with the loss when it was the lefty who put the Red Sox in a hole. The two earned runs Tazawa surrendered on the Encarnacion homer marked the first time he has allowed more
than one earned run in a game since Sept. 4, 2009, a span of 53 games. Tazawa entered the seventh with a 7-6 lead thanks in large part to David Ortiz, who has been on an absolute tear to start his season.
After the Blue Jays botched a double-play ball that would have potentially ended the frame, Dustin Pedroia walked to load the bases for Ortiz, who cleared them with a three-run double to right. Ortiz drilled a 3-1 fastball off reliever Steve Delabar to put Boston in
front, 7-6. Ortiz also hit a solo homer, his third of the year, in the fourth inning to put the Red Sox on the board. Ortiz is batting .500 with a whopping .917 slugging percentage and 15 RBIs over just nine games this season. The designated hitter was one of three Red Sox to
go deep in the contest. Mike Carp hit his first home run two batters after Ortiz went deep in the fourth off Blue Jays starter Brandon Morrow, and Jonny Gomes hit a pinch-hit homer, also his first with Boston, in the sixth inning.
Boston's offense bailed out Lester, who struggled for the second consecutive start, from taking the loss. Lester surrendered a run in the first and three more in the third. Lester had to battle all game and used 100 pitches to get through his six innings
of work. He allowed six hits while walking two and striking out five. This came after issuing a season-high six walks in his last start against Oakland. The southpaw said he didn't feel right from the beginning of the game and wasn't throwing any pitches with the polish that he should
have been.
Despite the loss, which snapped Boston's five-game winning streak and prevented the team from setting a club record for wins in April, the Red Sox ended the month with the best record in baseball for the 11th time in franchise history. |
