|
A SEASON IN THE DRINK
(CHICKEN & BEER) ...
Adrian Gonzales has a
big night
for the Red Sox
June 17, 2011 ...
Adrian Gonzalez earned his share of praise by leading the Red Sox to
a 10-4 victory over the Brewers before a Fenway Park crowd of 37,833.
Gonzalez provided ample entertainment going 3 for 4 and reaching base
in each of his first three at-bats. He scored three runs and
delivered a leadoff home run off reliever Marco Estrada in the fifth,
breaking a 4-4 stalemate. It was his 15th homer of the season, giving
him 62 RBIs.
Gonzalez,
who has reached base in 17 straight games and is batting .415 (27 for 65) with 8
doubles, a triple, 6 homers, and 17 RBIs in that stretch, spearheaded Boston's
14-hit barrage that helped out John Lackey (5-5, 7.02 ERA), who won for the
third straight time since coming off the disabled list.
With closer
Jonathan Papelbon starting his reduced two-game suspension, Lackey went eight
innings, allowing four runs on eight hits. He had no walks and struck out five,
throwing 111 pitches (81 for strikes). He retired 15 consecutive batters before
allowing a one-out single to Nyjer Morgan in the eighth. Matt Albers pitched the
ninth.
After a
shaky start, in which he gave up a pair of runs on three hits, Lackey settled
down. Milwaukee counterpart Shaun Marcum wasn't as fortunate, departing the game
with a left hip flexor strain following a 44-pitch first inning.
The Sox
erased a 2-0 deficit in short order when Jacoby Ellsbury hit a leadoff homer off
Marcum. With two out, David Ortiz tied it up with an RBI double to right that
scored Gonzalez, who had reached on a single to left. The next batter, Crawford,
reached on an infield hit to third base, but had to come out of the game with
what manager Terry Francona called a "Grade-1" strain of his left hamstring. The
Sox put up two more runs in the second against Estrada, who wound up giving up
three runs and four hits over four innings.
The Brewers,
the leaders of the National League Central division, tied it with a pair of runs
on four hits (all singles) in the third. Lackey was facing a bases-loaded jam
with no outs after giving up three consecutive hits. The fearsome Prince
Fielder, serving as the designated hitter, singled home a run to pull Milwaukee
within 4-3 and keep the bases loaded for McGehee, who hit into a 4-6-3 double
play, started by second baseman Dustin Pedroia's marvelous diving stab. Lackey
responded by striking out Corey Hart with an 83-mile-per-hour slider, and
retired the next 13 batters. Ellsbury got Lackey out of the eighth when he
charged in from deep center field to catch Ryan Braun's shallow fly and alertly
doubled off Morgan at first.
The Sox
tacked on a pair of runs in the sixth on a double by Jason Varitek and a single
by Pedroia, and scored three more in the seventh against reliever Daniel
Herrera. J.D. Drew's two-run single made it 10-4. |
