Red Sox Live Blog: Mike Aviles Drives in Two Runs to Lead Red Sox to 6-3 Win Over Boston College

by abournenesn

Mar 3, 2012

Red Sox Live Blog: Mike Aviles Drives in Two Runs to Lead Red Sox to 6-3 Win Over Boston College

Final, Red Sox 6-3: It's over, folks. Felix Doubront is feeling more comfortable with his delivery, David Ortiz looked fine on defense.

Bobby Valentine went as far as saying the designated hitter has "life in his body."

For more, follow me on Twitter @DidierMorais

8:57 p.m., Red Sox 6-3: Pedro Ciriaco has done a solid job when patrolling shortstop. He said he's still adjusting to things here with a new team.

Bottom 6th, Red Sox 6-3: Juan Carlos Linares with another strikeout. It's still a process for him as he works his way back to game action and seeing the ball the way he wants to.

Top 6th, Red Sox 6-2: We caught up with Felix Doubront, who was very encouraged by his start.

“My delivery today was awesome," Doubront. " I worked hard in my bullpens and throwing program, playing catch. I feel normal. The first time was a little bit hard to me because there was something I didn’t do before. Tonight, I feel like it’s pretty good, my delivery. When I deliver the ball in front of my face, I feel good."

Mid 5th, Red Sox 6-2: Since its a seven-inning game, they are flipping the script with the fifth-inning stretch. Whatever works, I guess.

Top 5th, Red Sox 6-2: Tazawa pitches two innings, allows four hits and two runs, walks one and strikes out another. Obviously not the most ideal of starts, but he'll have more chances to build on that.

8:02 p.m., Red Sox 6-2: Alex Hassan lines an RBI single. Looks like this is the part where the Red Sox break away from the college kids.

Bottom 2nd, Red Sox 4-2: Junichi Tazawa struggling a bit, allowed BC's Tom Bourdon to uncork an RBI double. But on the other hand, it's allowed us to get glimpses of David Ortiz in action.

He fielded a nice grounder and swiftly tossed it back to Tazawa for the 4-3 out. The Big Fella shows he's been taking some notes from Adrian Gonzalez apparently since it's the earliest he's played first base in years.

7:48 p.m., Red Sox 4-1: BC second basemen John Hennessy with a single off Tazawa to drive in a run, so this one won't be a shutout. 

7:45 p.m, Red Sox 4-0: Felix Doubront's line – two innings, one hit, no runs, one strikeout. He threw 20 pitches and 15 for strikes.

Bottom 2nd, Red Sox 4-0: BC right fielder Marc Perdios robs David Ortiz of an extra base hit. Not a bad catch and you bet he'll be bragging about that on campus.

7:35 p.m., Red Sox 4-0: Mike Aviles makes Green pay for those walks, hitting a double to left field to drive in two runs. A passed ball later, Aviles crosses home plate. Well, Green's momentum was nice while he had it.

7:29 p.m.: Boston College pitcher Steve Green holding his own very well, only surrendered one hit thus far. Walks have hurt him, but we'll see how he keep up.

Top 2nd: Juan Carlos Linares is coming into center for Che-Hsuan Lin. He could be a sleeper to keep an eye on down the road. When healthy, he's flashed a power bat and if wasn't for that season-ending ankle injury in 2011, he may have ascended to the majors.

7:18 p.m.: Boston College shortstop Anthony Melchionda with a nice backhand on Nick Punto's grounder. He throws him out at first and the crowd gives him some love for it.

Bottom 1st: Mike Aviles is leading off like Iglesias did last game. The reason is that Valentine said he wanted to get a good amount of looks to evaluate the duo.

Top 1st: Felix Doubront is starting — here's my story on him from earlier this week. So far, it looks like he's adjusting to those tweaks with his footwork. We'll see more obviously.

End of Game 1, Red Sox 25-0: Albers looked fine with two strikeouts in his stint. Northeastern finished with just two hits. It's the most runs the Red Sox have scored against NU in one game in all the 9 games they played.

Top 7th, Red Sox 25-0: Matt Albers coming into the game. He's trimmed some weight this offseason. Bobby Valentine gave him some love, saying don't let his body build fool you. Let's see how he looks.

4:34 p.m., Red Sox 24-0: Whoa, Ryan Sweeney hit a homer. He belted just one home run in each of the last 2 seasons. It's a college pitcher, but hey, keep that in mind as you remember how Ben Cherington said he thought Sweeney's swing was good for Fenway.

4:30 p.m., Red Sox 19-0: Nate Spears stole a base. Wow. You would think they'd take it easy on these college guys in such a blowout. But hey, that's part of the process of trying to earn a job.

Top 6th, Red Sox 19-0: The Northeastern pitcher is struggling with his control right now. He's thrown three wild pitches in the last few minutes against one hitter. I know it's against the Red Sox, but still.

4:22 p.m., Red Sox 19-0: We caught up with Jon Lester briefly and he felt strong after his short sting against NU.

"I think I'm at a little better point than I was last year going into the first game," Lester said. "Was pleased with it."

He also admitted he still had butterflies before the game even though it was against a college team.

Bottom 4th: Red Sox 19-0: Cody Ross connected on his second home run of the game, this time with the bases loaded. Even in spring training, a grand slam is a special thing to behold. 

Che-Hsuan Lin added a two-run homer a few at-bats later. It was all part of a seven-run inning for the Red Sox. And this is where I drop the obligatory Linsanity joke.

Bottom 3rd: Red Sox 10-0: Oscar Tejeda had a pretty impressive spring in 2011. He knocks in Pedro Ciriaco in the third to get an RBI single. He's someone worth watching to see if he can develop plate discipline.

3:22 p.m., Red Sox 9-0: Justin Germano comes in for Lester. Another one of the veteran starters that the Red Sox stockpiled on and have thrown into the mix.

Top 3rd: Red Sox 9-0: The moment you've been waiting for, Jon Lester's pitching line — He went one inning, striking out two batters and allowing one hit. He threw 22 pitches, 16 for strikes.

3:17 p.m., Red Sox 9-0: Ah, Ryan Sweeney joins the party, hitting a two-run single. Of course, this still isn't Berg pitching for NU. Michael Murphy came in to spell him in the 2nd inning.

3:12 p.m., Red Sox 7-0: Adrian Gonzalez blasts a homer over the Green Monster as well. And to think the JetBlue Green Monster is taller than Fenway's. Should be easy, right?

Bottom 2nd, Red Sox 3-0: Cody Ross was blasting balls over the Green Monster during batting practice this week. So it's should come as no surprise that he belted the first homer in JetBlue Park history and cleared the monster. Boom.

Top 2nd, Red Sox 2-0: Pete Castoldi gets a hit — a single — off Lester. He acts like he's been there before, but you got to guess he's beaming inside and has bragging rights on the team for awhile.

2:52 p.m.: Ryan Sweeney strikes out swinging. Earlier today, Bobby Valentine really believes the 6-foot-4, 223-pound outfielder has the power to belt, but obviously hasn't hit many homers throughout his career. He'll be intriguing to watch moving forward since Ben Cherington called his swing great for Fenway.

2:48 pm: Darnell McDonald drives in two runs with a single. The man said he's looking to take the next step this season when called upon. 

2:45 pm: So want to know who got the first hit at JetBlue Park? If you guessed Dustin Pedroia, then you are correct.

He hit a double off the Green Monster down here.

Bottom 1st: Northeastern pitcher Sam Berg strikes out Jose Iglesias. Berg will certainly have a nice story to bring back to campus. Obviously, Iglesias still has some work to do at the plate and develop his hitting.

Top 1st: Northeastern leadoff hitter Aaron Barbosa hits one straight to Lester, who tosses him out at first base.

You know what that means? That's PFP practice action at its finest.

2:26 p.m.: Northeastern lineup:

Aaron Barbosa, RF
Tucker Roeder, C
Matt Miller, LF
Jon Leroux, DH
Pete Castoldi, 2B
Jason Roth, 1B
Ricky Salvucci, 3B
Oliver Hart, SS
Connor Lyons, CF
Sam Berg, P

1:29 p.m.: Bobby Valentine said Jon Lester will be pitching two innings in today's game. For now, here's the Red Sox lineup for Game 1:

Jose Iglesias, SS
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Darnell McDonald, DH
Ryan Sweeney, RF
Cody Ross, LF
Will Middlebrooks, 3B
Jon Lester, P

9 a.m. ET: There are a pair of games on the schedule for Saturday when the Red Sox play collegiate competition. Boston will take on Northeastern in the first game before facing Boston College in the later game. Both games will be only seven innings to avoid overexerting the college players. The lineups for both games are here. It'll be an interesting sight to see as we get a glimpse of David Ortiz playing first base really early and a look at pitcher Felix Doubront, who will be competing for a spot in the Red Sox rotation.

And with that, we'll leave you with a quote from Bobby Valentine on the games: "We're looking forward to it," Valentine said. "Our scouting report on BC is a little better than it is on Northeastern, but we'll make due."

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