Blue Jays 6-2, FINAL: The game ends as it began, with the Red Sox wasting a scoring chance. Lowell led off the ninth with a double, but that was it and the Jays have evened the series with Roy Halladay facing Jon Lester in a battle of aces Sunday.
End 8th, Blue Jays 6-2: Ramon Ramirez shakes off a brutal two-base error by Lowrie to pitch a scoreless inning with two strikeouts. Lowrie and Lowell both went after a shallow fly down the left-field line by Lind, and Lowrie knocked the ball out of Lowell's glove after Lowell unsuccessfully waved Lowrie off. But Ramirez, who has also struggled lately, didn't let it faze him, getting Millar looking for the third time today to end the inning.
Mid 8th, Blue Jays 6-2: The Red Sox are going down quietly in this one, with six in a row retired since Lowrie's leadoff homer in the eighth.
End 7th, Blue Jays 6-2: Justin Masterson had some struggles just before the All-Star break, but he's been lights out today, retiring all six batters he faced.
Mid 7th, Blue Jays 6-2: After the Lowrie homer, Jesse Carlson gets a pair of sparkling defensive plays by Aaron Hill and Rolen for two outs, then Jeremy Accardo gets Dustin Pedroia on a fly to right to end the inning.
3:08 p.m.: Jed Lowrie says, 'We don't need no stinkin' depth.' His wrist healed, Lowrie launches his first homer of the season, cutting the deficit to 6-2.
End 6th, Blue Jays 6-1: Penny is done after five innings, as Justin Masterson works a perfect sixth. With Clay Buchholz looking very sharp in his 2009 debut Friday night and Penny struggling and again failing to go deep into the game, you have to wonder if the Penny trade talk is going to re-ignite over the next two weeks. Even with Lowrie and Lowell back, the Sox could still use some depth on the left side of the infield. Maybe Scott Rolen? Stay tuned.
Mid 6th, Blue Jays 6-1: The Red Sox have had chances today, but have failed to cash them in, allowing Rzepczynski to go deep into the game, despite walking four batters, three in the past two innings. A 1-6-3 double play by Baldelli kills the most-recent opportunity.
End 5th, Blue Jays 6-1: Well, the pitch count is good through five innings, but Penny's pitch quality has really been lacking the past two innings. In the fifth, Penny allows a leadoff double to Scutaro, then a one-out homer to Adam Lind. The top three in the Jays order were 0-for-6 entering the fifth. Not anymore.
Mid 5th, Blue Jays 4-1: The Red Sox keep knocking on the door, but Rzepczynski is keeping it shut. The Sox put two on with one out with a pair of walks, but the Zepper strikes out Youkilis on a checked swing, then gets Ortiz on his third straight groundout to second. Youkilis blew a gasket when the first-base umpire rang him up, and whined heavily to poor Jed Lowrie about it in the dugout. Lowrie wanted no part of that discussion, because everyone except Youkilis knew he went around.
End 4th, Blue Jays 4-1: Penny worked out of a mess in the second inning, but couldn't quite do it in the fourth. The 4-through-6 hitters in the Jays lineup — Scott Rolen, Lyle Overbay and Alex Rios – are 5-for-5 with a walk against Penny, and they combined for three one-out singles to make it 2-1. A passed ball moved Overbay and Rios into scoring position, but Millar struck out for the second out. One pitch from escaping major damage, Penny hung one to Bautista, who rocketed a double to left-center, making it 4-1.
Mid 4th, 1-1: The recent returnees have a tough fourth inning, with Lowell making the first out on a grounder to short and Lowrie ending the inning with a fly ball to center. Lowrie gave his ball a ride, an indication that the wrist is strong. You almost have to throw out all of Lowrie's past hitting numbers, as he's never had a major league at-bat without the wrist issue, until now.
End 3rd, 1-1: Penny needs just 10 pitches in a perfect third inning, keeping his total at a respectable 39 through three innings. Penny got some help on a called strike three to Marco Scutaro that looked a little high and inside, but who's complaining?
Mid 3rd, 1-1: Rzepczynski might not be long for this game at 58 pitches through three innings, but he's showing some moxie, stranding another runner in scoring position with less than two outs. After a one-out double by Youkilis, Rzepczynski gets Ortiz on a grounder to second (the fourth 4-3 of the game), then strikes out Bay to end the inning.
End 2nd, 1-1: Those friendly Bue Jays saw the Red Sox squander a scoring opportunity, so they squandered one themselves. Penny allowed two singles and a walk to start the inning, but old friend Kevin Millar hit a double play grounder to Lowrie, with one run scoring. That allowed Penny to escape with just the one run against him.
Mid 2nd, Red Sox 1-0: The Red Sox get a run, but they should have had more, putting runners at second and third with nobody out, but failing to get either of them home. Rocco Baldelli singled home Jason Bay, and Mike Lowell hustled his way to third, allowing Baldelli to move up. But Lowrie, in his first at-bat since April 11, took a nasty breaking ball for strike three, then Kottaras fouled out to third. That left it to the slumping J.D. Drew, who could only tap out weakly to second, ending the inning.
Say what you will about Julio Lugo, but Drew has been just as disappointing, save for one swing against Fausto Carmona and one month in 2008. Drew has two more years on his deal, at $14 million a year, and he has Theo Epstein paying for past performance, as well.
End 1st, 0-0: Brad Penny makes quick work of the Jays, needing just 13 pitches to work a 1-2-3 inning. Penny's pitch count has been his biggest issue this season, as he has failed to complete seven innings in any of his 17 previous starts. We'll see if he can maintain an economical pace the rest of today.
Mid 1st, 0-0: The Red Sox are getting their first look at lefty Marc Rzepczysnki, who allows a one-out single to Dustin Pedroia, but gets two grounders to second to end the inning. The Red Sox almost cashed in a run, thanks to some heady baserunning by Pedroia, who pulled up between first and second on Kevin Youkilis' grounder, forcing the Jays to attempt a 4-3-6 double play. But Lyle Overbay's throw to second was wide, allowing Pedroia to reach. David Ortiz could not capitalize, however, grounding out to second to end the inning.
12:30 p.m.: Jed Lowrie has not only been activated for today's game, he's in the lineup, batting eighth. Jacoby Ellsbury will miss his second straight game because of illness, with Rocco Baldelli batting seventh, while George Kottaras is batting ninth at catcher (day game after night game).
10 a.m.: The Red Sox got a boost Friday night from the return of Mike Lowell, who had two hits in his first game off the disabled list. What sort of lift can they get from Jed Lowrie? The shortstop-to-be is expected to be activated for today's game, giving the Red Sox their complete lineup for the first time since early April. And with Penny on the mound, the odds are good the Red Sox will extend their winning streak to five games. Penny is 3-0 in six career starts against the Jays, including 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA at Rogers Centre.
