Postgame, Red Sox 10-4: Dustin Pedroia summed things up rather nicely: “We got a lot of good pitches to hit tonight and we didn’t miss them.”
The clubhouse actually turned into a bit of a competition as to who had the most impressive homer. There’s a good argument for three or four of them.
We will have more on the home runs barrage on the site in a bit, and then turn our attention to Friday night’s matchup between Zach Britton and Josh Beckett. See you then.
Final, Red Sox 10-4: Six home runs. That’s pretty much the story in this one.
Dustin Pedroia, Adrian Gonzalez, Jacoby Ellsbury, David Ortiz, Josh Reddick and Jarrod Saltalamacchia each go deep, the last three in succession, and Boston has won seven of its last eight games.
Coupled with a loss by the Yankees, the Sox are in first place with three games remaining before the All-Star break.
Oh, and Andrew Miller is 3-0. He hasn’t exactly dominated, but you have to appreciate the contribution so far for a team that has 60 percent of its rotation on the disabled list.
We are headed down to get reaction from what figures to be a pretty happy clubhouse. See you soon.
End 8th, Red Sox 10-4: The Red Sox leave a runner at third in the bottom of the eighth. Doubt that will come back to haunt them.
Bobby Jenks is your new pitcher. Drew Sutton and Yamaico Navarro is the new middle infield. Navarro actually entered last inning.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 10-4: Barring something wacky, the Red Sox will be in first place by the end of the night. The Yankees are losing to Tampa Bay in the ninth at New York.
In the eighth at Fenway, Scott Atchison gave up a double to Vladimir Guerrero, who eventually scored on a grounder to Dustin Pedroia.
End 7th, Red Sox 10-3: There was just another marriage proposal on the big screen here. Given the theme of the night, that guy is totally hitting a home run tonight.
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Scott Atchison is on to pitch the eighth, and perhaps the ninth. Aside from some slight command issues for Andrew Miller, a perfect night for the Sox so far as the bulk of the pen will get a much-needed night off.
9:43 p.m.: Remember our pregame note about this being a good series for the bats to really break out? Probably not, but there was one.
It has happened. In a big way.
The Red Sox have hit a team season high six home runs, three of which just came in succession.
David Ortiz’s 18th of the year was a line shot into the center field bleachers. Josh Reddick’s second was struck just to the right of the Orioles bullpen. Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s went into the Monster seats.
It is the first time the Sox have gone back-to-back-to-back since last August in Texas, where Ortiz, Adrian Beltre and J.D. Drew did the trick.
And each of the six have been no-doubters, the kind that cause you to jerk your head up when you hear the contact (that is, if you had your head down, as I did on the Reddick and Salty blasts). They are just crushing the ball tonight.
Ever the party-pooper, Drew just worked a walk rather than hit the fourth straight home run. That was enough for Buck Showalter. He has gone to the pen for Chris Jakubauskas. Have fun, Chris!
9:30 p.m.: Here comes the parade of pitching changes. Jason Berken gets the first man in the seventh and Baltimore turns to Pedro Viola.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 7-3: Clearly, Alfredo Aceves is tiring. After needing seven pitches to work through the sixth, he needs eight to finish the seventh.
For those who missed calculus, that’s a total of 15 pitches for Aceves, who still may start Sunday.
End 6th, Red Sox 7-3: Is it nuts to think that Jacoby Ellsbury could lead this team in home runs by the end of the year?
Maybe it is, but he is just six behind Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz (and closing fast) after a loud two-run shot past the Pesky Pole in the sixth.
Ellsbury is hitting .483 (14-for-29) with six extra-base hits since the last game of June. Keeps this pace up and he’ll begin to enter MVP discussions with Gonzalez and Jose Bautista and whomever else you want to throw in there.
Not saying any of those things will happen, but Ellsbury’s hot streak is bumping him a lot of lists right now.
Alfredo Aceves is back out to begin the seventh.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 5-3: If the Red Sox wanted to keep Alfredo Aceves’ pitch count low so that he could still start Sunday, his sixth inning will help.
Aceves needed seven pitches to work a 1-2-3 that is glaring compared to Andrew Miller’s grinding start.
We may have an announcement on that Sunday starter after the game, or at least by tomorrow afternoon.
End 5th, Red Sox 5-3: Good job by Jason Berken to right some wrongs in the fifth.
Alfredo Aceves is jogging on to work the sixth. Andrew Miller gave up three runs on six hits and four walks in five innings. He figures to get a shot at Tampa Bay after the break, or perhaps Baltimore again if Terry Francona shuffles things following the intermission.
They took away the Nick Markakis error in the fourth, in case you are scoring at home. It is still an unearned run for Jake Arrieta.
9:00 p.m.: Adrian Gonzalez will do a lot of things in his Red Sox career that will make you go “Wow.”
One of those wow-worthy moments just passed as Gonzalez hit a bullet line drive homer off the extreme center-field side of the Green Monster (near the camera platform) for a solo homer.
That was among the hardest hit balls I’ve seen at Fenway Park this year.
Kevin Youkilis followed with a double and the Orioles elected to walk David Ortiz. That ends the night for Jake Arrieta. Jason Berken is on with one out and a bit of a mess to clean up.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 4-3: It hasn’t been pretty, but if the Boston bullpen performs the way it has in recent weeks, Andrew Miller could walk away with his third straight win.
With Alfredo Aceves stirring in the bullpen, Andrew Miller works around a one-out walk by getting Derrek Lee to hit into a double play.
Miller has walked four (three by Matt Wieters) and has yet to strike out a batter. We will see if he comes back out to begin the sixth. His pitch count is up to 97.
The Aceves situation is interesting. He could still come back and start Sunday if he has limited use tonight. He would not be used at all Friday and Saturday if that is the team’s plan. Since this would amount to a side day for a starter, they may want to use him anyway tonight to stay away from some guys who will be needed Friday and Saturday when the pen is essentially down a man. Hope that makes sense.
Then again, with the break coming up, others like Tim Wakefield can be used this weekend for an inning or two.
End 4th, Red Sox 4-3: When it comes time to preserve this sport for future generations who are forced to live on another planet, they won’t want to dig this one out of the archives.
Both Baltimore and the umpiring crew helped the Red Sox out a bit in a rather ugly bottom of the fourth.
The unsightliness (is that a word?) began when Josh Reddick grounded one to first base. Pitcher Jake Arrieta covered and appeared to get his foot on the bag for the first out, but first base umpire Mike Estabrook ruled that he was off the base. It went into the books as an error on Arrieta, the first of two for the O’s in the inning.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia followed with a single to right, where Nick Markakis bobbled the ball, allowing Reddick to race all the way to third. That made J.D. Drew’s chopper to first an RBI groundout instead of just a standard out. Even that play required first baseman Derrek Lee to knock the ball down before recovering for the out.
Mid 4th, 3-3: The Red Sox got the first two on in the bottom of the third and used some thunder (Dustin Pedroia’s three-run homer) to make it count.
The Orioles were in the same situation in the top of the fourth. They chose to manufacture something, and it worked.
Andrew Miller gave up consecutive singles to begin the frame, although Marco Scutaro will tell you that he should have had the sharp grounder hit to his backhand off the bat of Nolan Reimold.
In any event, a sacrifice bunt moved both runners up 90 feet. J.J. Hardy’s long fly to right allowed Mark Reynolds to score easily.
Miller had another walk later in the frame. He has three of those and no strikeouts so far. His pitch count is at 82.
End 3rd, Red Sox 3-2: Jake Arrieta has only himself to blame.
Arrieta dug himself a huge hole by walking Marco Scutaro and Jacoby Ellsbury to start the bottom of the third. He then fell behind Dustin Pedroia 3-1, and Pedroia did what he often does to 3-1 fastballs.
The ninth of the year for Pedey sails well over the Green Monster and puts Boston on top in a heartbeat.
Arrieta managed to get the next three in order, but he paid dearly for losing the plate for a few batters.
Mid 3rd, Orioles 2-0: Yeah, I know I had the score wrong for a few minutes. What are you gonna do about it?
Andrew Miller is doing his best not to change the score, but he’s having to work pretty hard to do so.
His own two-base error on an Adam Jones dribbler allowed the Orioles to get a man into scoring position with one out. Jones eventually moved to third and, after Miller’s second walk of Matt Wieters, the lefty finally escaped.
Miller has yet to strike out a batter and has thrown 67 pitches. At this rate he’ll go just five or so and a somewhat taxed bullpen will be forced to eat up some innings.
End 2nd, Orioles 2-0: Another scoring opportunity goes by the board for the Red Sox in the second.
David Ortiz led things off with a double to left, barely beating the throw back in.
He moved to third on a Josh Reddick grounder, but was unable to advance when Jarrod Saltalamacchia lined a bullet to left fielder Nolan Reimold.
J.D. Drew then flied out to deep right.
Mid 2nd, Orioles 2-0: Andrew Miller works around a two-out walk in the second, but the hit was a 55-hopper into left that just got out of the reach of a diving Marco Scutaro.
Miller had a few issues out of the gate his last time out, so perhaps he just needed to shake off the rust and can be a bit better going forward.
Actually, Miller’s ERA in the first inning for his career is 8.18. That pretty much tells the story.
End 1st, Orioles 2-0: Jacoby Ellsbury has had such an incredible season that seeing him make as bad a mistake as the one he made in the first is glaring.
Ellsbury walked to begin the inning. One out later, Adrian Gonzalez lined a single to center. Ellsbury should have thought twice about going to third in the first place, but definitely should have resisted the urge after hesitating.
Adam Jones never bobbled the ball or anything. The play was right in front of Ellsbury. Still, he elected to go and was a dead duck.
Kevin Youkilis then lined to center to end the inning.
I understand the merits of trying to get to third with one out, but it was ill-advised that time.
Mid 1st, Orioles 2-0: The answer to the question as to how Andrew Miller was going to perform once he faced a more legit lineup is not yet complete.
But there has to be many making some assumptions after a rocky first inning for the left-hander.
Miller gave up three straight singles to start the inning, although one caromed off of him and rolled to the vacated spot at second base.
That was an infield hit and an RBI for Adam Jones. Vladimir Guerrero then hit into a double play to plate the second run, but Miller wasn’t done for a little while after that.
Miller walked Matt Wieters and then was part of the first battery to ever allow a stolen base to the Baltimore catcher. Wieters took advantage of Miller’s poor move and slow time to home and swiped a bag for the first time in his career.
7:10 p.m.: Andrew Miller served up a pair of singles to start things in the first. We are off and running.
6:15 p.m.: Andrew Miller looked like a pretty cool customer moments ago strolling through the clubhouse. It seems as if many people are wondering how he will look against an American League lineup, but it’s just another step forward (hopefully) for the southpaw.
The last time Miller faced an AL team was June 28, 2009, when Tampa Bay got to Miller for five runs in 6 1/3 innings.
Five days before that, Miller had his one and only career start against Baltimore, allowing just one run on one hit in seven dominant innings.
Five members of the Orioles starting lineup that night are in the lineup again tonight. Here is the full Baltimore batting order, followed by a few numbers:
J.J. Hardy, SS
Nick Markakis, RF
Adam Jones, CF
Vladimir Guerrero, DH
Matt Wieters, C
Derrek Lee, 1B
Mark Reynolds, 3B
Nolan Reimold, LF
Robert Andino, 2B
Markakis, Jones, Guerrero, Wieters, Lee, Reimold and Andino are a combined 0-for-15 against Miller. Hardy is 1-for-2. The one guy to watch is Reynolds, who is 3-for-5 with two doubles and three walks vs. the lefty.
4:56 p.m.: For those of you attending Sunday’s game here at Fenway Park and wondering who is pitching for the Red Sox, you’ll have to wait a little longer to find out.
“We’ve got some ideas, some things to throw around.” manager Terry Francona said when asked if he had made up his mind. “We’ll have an announcement…when we feel it’s appropriate.”
One option is obviously Alfredo Aceves. If the club seeks help from Pawtucket, Kyle Weiland is lined up to start that day for the PawSox and might get the nod. Weiland has been consistently good this season. Kevin Millwood is scheduled to start Saturday, so he remains a possible choice.
Felix Doubront just threw last night so he would not have enough time. Perhaps if Aceves is needed in the next day or so out of the bullpen the club will look to the minors. If not, he may get the call and be perfectly fine to rejoin the pen after the break.
Lester did not so much as speak with reporters as do a buzz-by as we approached. He said his lat issue is “the same as before.”
In other minor injury news, Jed Lowrie has yet to resume hitting but is getting closer.
“He’s got to get that strength a little more equal on both sides,” Francona said. “He’s not there yet. He is improving. But he’s not there yet.”
No change in the plans for Carl Crawford. It seems set in stone that he will be back July 18 in Baltimore. We just saw him run the bases with aggression. If this was David Ortiz or someone like that who doesn’t rely much on his legs, he’d be back now. The Sox are being extra cautious with Crawford to make sure he is 100 percent when he comes back.
3:06 p.m.: Greetings from Fenway Park, where we are getting ready to begin the final series before the All-Star break.
The Red Sox appear to be getting the Orioles at a good time. Baltimore has dropped 17 of its last 23 games, and it has been the usual issue for the O’s — poor pitching.
Perhaps this is a series the Boston bats really break out.
Here is the lineup that will try to lead that charge Thursday night.
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
David Ortiz, DH
Josh Reddick, LF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
J.D. Drew, RF
Marco Scutaro, SS
8 a.m.: Andrew Miller will make his first start with the Red Sox against an American League opponent when he takes the mound in the opener of a four-game series with Baltimore on Thursday night.
Miller went 2-0 with a 3.06 ERA in three starts versus National League teams during Boston’s run through interleague play. He has one career start against Baltimore, allowing a run in seven innings.
The Red Sox, winners of six of their last seven, will take aim at Orioles right-hander Jake Arrieta. He enters 9-5 with a 4.74 ERA.
Boston should have first baseman Adrian Gonzalez back in the lineup. He sat out Wednesday’s 6-4 win over Toronto with a stiff neck. It was the first game he has missed with the Red Sox.
Miller’s first pitch is expected around 7:10 p.m.
