Final, Red Sox 8-6: Papelbon took over on the mound and made quick work of Nolan Reimold to begin the ninth. After bringing the heat on the first pitch, Pap set him up with a splitter on the second pitch, before going back to the fastball for strike No. 3.
Robert Andino put up a decent battle, but he would eventually ground out to Youkilis at third base for the inning's second out.
Kyle Weiland's major league debut was certainly a wild one. He gave up six runs through the first two innings, which put the Sox in a 6-2 hole early.
He was then ejected in the fifth inning after hitting Vladimir Guerrero following warnings being issued to both benches. There was clearly no intent on the part of Weiland, though, which prompted an argument and a subsequent ejection to manager Terry Francona as well.
Orioles reliever Mike Gonzalez was also ejected from the game for throwing behind David Ortiz in the sixth, as was Orioles manager Buck Showalter.
Despite the lingering bad blood, the Sox bats were relentless on Sunday, as the Sox were able to capture an 8-6 come-from-behind win.
The first four hitters in the Red Sox lineup (Ellsbury, Pedroia, Youkilis and Gonzalez) each had two hits. In fact, everyone in the Sox order except for Jason Varitek had a hit in series finale.
Marco Scutaro, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis all went deep in the second inning to tie the game at six. David Ortiz then drew a bases loaded walk in the fourth inning to break the tie, before Jacoby Ellsbury's RBI single in the seventh gave the Sox some insurance.
The Red Sox close out the first half with a four-game sweep of the Orioles and have now won six in a row overall.
The break is always a chance for some guys to get some rest and should be good for the Sox given their medical issues. But when you're playing as good as they are right now, you might actually prefer to keep on playing.
End 8th, Red Sox 8-6: Koji Uehara took over in the bottom of the eighth and kept the middle of the Sox order in check.
Adrian Gonzalez grounded out softly to second, and Kevin Youkilis struck out swinging for the first two outs of the inning.
David Ortiz then put a charge into a fastball from Uehara, but Nick Markakis was able to flag it down on the run in right to end the inning.
Jonathan Papelbon will come on for the ninth, seeking his 20th save in 21 chances.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 8-6: Well, Daniel Bard continues to show that he may very well be an All-Star snub. The right-hander tossed a 1-2-3 eighth inning, extending his scoreless streak to 19 1/3 innings.
Bard began the eighth by retiring Matt Wieters on a ground out to second. He then made quick work of Derrek Lee, striking him out on three pitches. Bard painted the corner with a 98-mph fastball to sit Lee down.
Blake Davis tried to drop a bunt down on the first pitch he saw with two outs, but Bard was able to come off the mound, make the play and fire it to first for the out.
Bard's ERA dips to 2.05 with the scoreless inning. Jonathan Papelbon, who's warming up in the Sox bullpen, will likely take over in the ninth.
You also have to tip your cap to Alfredo Aceves. The versatile right-hander pitched three perfect innings, while striking out four.
End 7th, Red Sox 8-6: Boston's bid for an important insurance run nearly goes by the board when Jason Varitek, who doubled, is later caught in a rundown between third and home.
No worries.
Jacoby Ellsbury singles to right field with two outs to score J.D. Drew from second base.
It's time to pass on the live blog to the great Ricky Doyle. He will take you through the final two innings (hopefully that is all) while I handle some other duties.
Daniel Bard takes over on the mound in the eighth.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 7-6: Ladies and gentlemen, that's three perfect innings of relief for Alfredo Aceves.
Where would the Red Sox be without him and Matt Albers? Probably still on the right side of .500, but not aiming to move 20 games over, that's for sure.
Jim Johnson, who was ejected in Friday night's incident, is on for the O's.
End 6th, Red Sox 7-6: Jason Berken finishes off David Ortiz and finishes off the sixth inning. Took only 2 1/2 hours to get to this point.
There have been four ejections today, including both managers. There were four the other night.
Alfredo Aceves remains in the game. If he throws at anyone, I would hope they think twice about charging the mound. Aceves is a scary dude. Not incredibly huge. Just scary.
4:01 p.m.: Mike Gonzalez just unleashed a pitch about two feet behind David Ortiz. If it wasn't intentional, it was one of the worst pitches you've ever seen.
Gonzalez is immediately ejected. Orioles manager Buck Showalter is also kicked out, by rule.
It's a battle of bench coaches!
Jason Berken is on in relief of Gonzalez. He inherits a 1-1 count on Ortiz with two outs and nobody on.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 7-6: This Red Sox bullpen has been absolutely phenomenal of late.
Alfredo Aceves, after cleaning up the mess in the fifth, gets the O's in order in the sixth.
Nobody is up right now for Boston in the pen, but some guys are moving around. Not like they are obligated to sit the whole time, but you understand my point.
Michael "Don't Call Me Mike Anymore" Gonzalez is on to pitch for Baltimore.
End 5th, Red Sox 7-6: Alfredo Aceves jogs out to begin his second inning of work. We will see everyone employed today out of the bullpen, if need be.
Then again, the Sox don't break too far from things on that end. They may just go Aceves, Albers, Bard and Papelbon and only use Franklin Morales for Nick Markakis with runners on or something like that.
We will see.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 7-6: Clutch is a term more often used to describe hitters, but it is rather apt description for what Alfredo Aceves just did.
With runners on the corners and not outs, Aceves struck out a pair and then got Nolan Reimold to fly to left.
I somewhat doubt this score will remain the same, but if it does that's the key sequence in the game right there.
Been pointed out that Terry Francona is ejected by rule. His argument had nothing to do with it since warnings were already issued. Still, horse-pooh.
3:26 p.m.: That's complete horse-caca. No other way to put it.
Because Marty Foster issued warnings to both sides on a HBP that was about as far from intentional as one can be, Kyle Weiland gets tossed when he hits Vladimir Guerrero with a pitch.
Complete idiocy by Foster.
In any event, the HBP followed a triple by Adam Jones. That leaves Alfredo Aceves with the task of cleaning up a first-and-third, no-out mess.
Oh, and Terry Francona was also ejected. Can't blame him. Hard to hold back when an umpire is a complete bleeping moron. And I would say the same thing if it happened to an Orioles pitcher. Just garbage.
End 5th, Red Sox 7-6: A double by Dustin Pedroia and a single by Adrian Gonzalez got Jeremy Guthrie in some hot water with one out in the fourth.
Then things got a little screwy.
Guthrie threw a changeup that just barely caught Kevin Youkilis, the franchise leader in HBPs, on the elbow. Home plate umpire Marty Foster immediately issued warnings to both sides, which seems odd.
Guthrie would not be throwing at Youkilis to load the bases for David Ortiz in a tie game. If Guthrie needs any support in his argument, he can use the ensuing walk to Ortiz as evidence as to what can happen when the margin for error is all but gone.
The Ortiz walk pushes in the go-ahead run. Good job by Guthrie to battle back and retire the next two to leave 'em loaded.
Kyle Weiland is still at it. A scoreless frame will give him a chance at a win.
Mid 4th, 6-6: There was this quote from Terry Francona prior to the game today, when discussing his catching corps:
"Salty threw the ball last night as well or better than I've ever seen him."
Francona might say the same about Jason Varitek, although he has made many throws on par with the one he just had to nail Robert Andino in the fourth.
The caught stealing allows Kyle Weiland to put up another zero.
Sox have top of the order due up in the bottom half.
End 3rd, 6-6: A Jason Varitek double leads to nothing for the Red Sox in the third. The game has calmed down just a bit, which might suit Kyle Weiland just fine.
Weiland will start the fourth inning with a pitch count of 59. The leash will not be long, especially with everyone available in the pen today.
Remain mindful of the fact that four of the seven hits against Weiland were soft. Three were infield hits and one a weak bloop to right. He has looked better than his line would suggest.
Mid 3rd, 6-6: A couple more firsts for Kyle Weiland.
He hits a man with a pitch for the first time, catching Mark Reynolds on the arm/hand with one out.
Weiland then gets his first double-play grounder as a major leaguer. It was an easy hop for Kevin Youkilis and a simple turn for Dustin Pedroia to get Weiland back into the dugout.
Reynolds was able to stay in the game, but just until the inning ended. Robert Andino has moved from second to third to take his place. Blake Davis is in at second.
End 2nd, 6-6: Under normal circumstances, the Red Sox getting into the bullpen so early could make for a relentless parade of runs.
But the quirk of playing the final day before the All-Star break is that Buck Showalter does not need to hesitate to go to an established starter like Jeremy Guthrie.
With four days off, Showalter can still slot Guthrie wherever he wants and use him up as much as he can in this one.
Guthrie got his one man to end the second, and we press on after both teams missed extra points.
Kyle Weiland is out to start the third. Alfredo Aceves was up during the long top of the second.
2:32 p.m.: Strap yourselves in, folks. It's going to be a long afternoon. The weather's perfect, though, so no need to complain.
After Baltimore plates six runs with a handful of dinky hits, the Sox have unleashed the big guns to chase Mitch Atkins.
Marco Scutaro and Dustin Pedroia had solo homers. Adrian Gonzalez doubled. Kevin Youkilis hammered a two-run shot to straightaway center. Atkins was relieved. The dish ran away with the spoon.
Jeremy Guthrie, who started Wednesday in Texas, is on in relief.
Mid 2nd, Orioles 6-2: Kyle Weiland now knows what it feels like to suffer through a long inning at the major league level. And suffer he did, in a variety of ways, not all of which were because of his doing.
Just a tough inning all the way around. Here's how it went down.
After getting the first out, Weiland issues his first major league walk and then saw Derrek Lee unload on a first-pitch fastball to tie it 2-2.
Mark Reynolds doubled deep to center and Nolan Reimold recorded an infield hit, one of three in the inning. With runners at first and second (Reynolds could not advance), Robert Andino blooped one to right that push in a run.
One out later, Nick Markakis had the second infield hit, a comebacker that Weiland just missed. That scored another run, an Adam Jones single added another and still another came in when Marco Scutaro chose to try to get a force at second instead of throwing to first with Vladimir Guerrero running, the ball arriving too late to Dustin Pedroia.
There were a few hard-hit balls, but the Orioles were fortunate a few times as well.
End 1st, Red Sox 2-0: Not to take a single thing away from the Red Sox — who have now outscored opponents in the first inning by 19 runs, more than any frame other than the seventh — but this Orioles defense is just pathetic.
Baltimore entered ranking at or near the bottom in many traditional and sabermetrical defensive categories, and it has done nothing to improve its standing in this series.
There haven't been gobs and gobs of errors, but just an incredible number of "almosts," plays that better defenders would make. The defensive issues hurt the O's in the bottom of the first.
Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a hit, naturally. He was erased on a fielder's choice but third baseman Mark Reynolds' throw to second put his second baseman in a tough spot to turn what could've been a double play. Instead, the relay to first is off line and Dustin Pedroia reaches.
After an Adrian Gonzalez walk, Kevin Youkilis hit a hot shot to third that Reynolds knocked down but couldn't recover in time to make the throw. Far be it for me to say which plays should and should not be made, but it just seems as if the Orioles have not made those kinds of plays all series.
That loaded the bases for David Ortiz, who singled to center to plate a run. Josh Reddick followed with a sacrifice fly for another.
That should help out Kyle Weiland.
Mid 1st, 0-0: You sometimes have to take debuts for starting pitchers with a grain of salt.
Either they can be unprepared mentally and just melt on the mound, which would not be indicative of their stuff. Or, their stuff can be so foreign to the hitters that they look like Cy Young.
Everything balances out over time, but this much we know: Kyle Weiland has that stuff.
Not Cy Young stuff necessarily, but his arsenal is legit. Before getting J.J. Hardy to pop to first for the initial out of the game, he had Hardy swing weakly at a cutter that darted about two feet outside at the last second.
Weiland then struck out the dangerous Nick Markakis with a 94 mph fastball on the inner half of the plate. Adam Jones grounded to second to finish the frame.
Impressive start to things for Weiland, who can now breathe a little sigh of relief and just do his thing.
1:34 p.m.: Kyle Weiland's first pitch as a major leaguer is a ball outside to J.J. Hardy. We are underway.
1:02 p.m.: Kyle Weiland has been particularly effective against left-handers this year, using an effective cutter and a curveball that can catch the corner if not offered at.
Lefties are hitting just .175 against Weiland, compared to .234 for right-handed hitters.
The Orioles have made no changes to their lineup, which has just one left-hander in Nick Markakis and one switch-hitter in Matt Wieters.
Here is the Baltimore batting order:
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
Weiland will be sporting No. 70 when he takes the mound. Saw him earlier going around the clubhouse and shaking hands with his new teammates. Many offered up congratulations to the lanky right-hander.
Terry Francona reminded his starting pitcher to savor the moment.
"Told him to enjoy himself because he'll never have another day like this in his life," Francona said.
The skipper was asked if Jason Varitek is always his go-to guy behind the plate in these situations. Varitek caught Andrew Miller in his debut during the last homestand.
Francona said he has "zero" concerns about starting Jarrod Saltalamacchia in this case, but gave indication that there is nobody he would rather turn to than Varitek on a day like this one.
"This is what Tek does probably better than anybody in the game of baseball. Try to use it to our advantage."
By the way, Scott Atchison was the roster casualty, as is often the case for the oft-traveled reliever. He was optioned to Pawtucket to make room for Weiland, who was already on the 40-man roster.
12:11 p.m.: OK, sorry for the delay. It's an awkward pregame with a lot of All-Star break preparations going on and what not. The clubhouse after the game figures to be an absolute zoo with players and staff heading every which way.
Terry Francona, who is headed to Mohegan Sun tonight with the clubhouse staff, talked about how necessary this time off is.
"We've got a game today. Play the game, try to win it to the best of your ability and then guys will disperse in a hurry. Good for them," he said. "Guys going to Phoenix, they should enjoy it. Guys get to go home, do whatever they want. We want them to get away for a few days.
"If the first game back, if we have a little, if the legs are slow, that's happened sometimes, a little lethargic sometimes. If that's the worst thing that happens we're ok, because they need to get away because it's a long second half."
One of the five headed to Phoenix will be Josh Beckett, who got through his side session today just fine and will be available to pitch in the All-Star Game.
One guy who hopes to be there someday is Kyle Weiland. Francona discussed his usual meeting with the callup and was pleased that Weiland seemed genuinely prepared.
"He looked excited," Francona said. "That's the biggest thing I want to see, is this guy, is he here [mentally]? He actually had a really confident [demeanor]. I felt good. It was nice to talk to him. He's a nice kid."
In the even Weiland struggles, Francona has the entire bullpen with which to work due to the four days off. He said he won't get too out of character, but at least he has that safety net if things go bad early on.
The big stud in that bullpen, Daniel Bard, continues to amaze. His scoreless streak is at 18 1/3 innings, the longest active run in the majors and the longest streak for a Red Sox reliever since Hideki Okajima had 20 2/3 consecutive scoreless frames early in 2007.
Francona said that while the zeroes are nice, there's another set of numbers he looks at when praising Bard.
"The thing I've been happy about, the number of pitches per inning has been very good. He’s been very economic or efficient, which is good because we can send him back out there."
Back with more in a moment.
10:00 a.m.: Here is the crew that will be backing up Kyle Weiland this afternoon:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
David Ortiz, DH
Josh Reddick, LF
Jason Varitek, C
J.D. Drew, RF
Marco Scutaro, SS
9:28 a.m.: Greetings from Fenway Park, where we have the perfect stage for the finale to the first half of the season.
Blue skies, comfortable temperatures, a sparkling ballpark and two young pitchers hoping to make an impression.
Kyle Weiland will be throwing his first major league pitch in about four hours. On the other side, Mitch Atkins is just five days removed from his first major league start.
Experience is at a premium, but that's what will make this an intriguing affair.
The Red Sox have won five straight and nine of 10. The Orioles have dropped 20 of their last 26. Two teams headed down different paths, but both scrambling to fill some rotation spots.
Lineups should be over shortly.
8 a.m.: Kyle Weiland will be making his major league debut at Fenway Park on Sunday afternoon when the Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles finish up the first half of the season.
Weiland is taking the spot of Jon Lester, who was placed on the disabled list with a strained lat earlier in the week. The 24-year-old Weiland is 8-6 with a 3.00 ERA in 17 starts for Triple-A Pawtucket.
The right-hander should be able to make a relatively smooth transition if the rest of the team continues to play the way it has. Boston has won five straight games and nine of 10 after Saturday night's 4-0 shutout of the hapless Orioles.
Baltimore, which also has been scrambling for starters in recent days, turns to right-hander Mitch Atkins. The former Chicago Cubs product allowed one run in six innings in his Orioles debut on Tuesday at Texas.
Weiland is scheduled to throw his first pitch at 1:35 p.m.
