Final, Red Sox Win 10-2: Matt Albers gets all four batters he faces for the last outs of the game, and the Red Sox win their second in a row and move back within one game of the .500 mark.
For the Sox, just about everything that could went right on this evening. Doubront turned in one of the best performances of his young career, throwing seven innings of two-run baseball, striking out nine and moving to 7-3 on the season.
And after Boston's headlines had been dominated in recent days by talk of a stagnant offense, the Sox batted around in the eighth inning, scoring six times and scoring more than four runs for the first time in a week.
Boston now moves to 31-32 on the season, and will send Daisuke Matsuzaka to the mound on Friday, as the club heads to Chicago to visit Wrigley Field, Theo Epstein and the Chicago Cubs.
End 8th, 10-2 Red Sox: The Marlins load the bases against a trio of Sox relievers, but Matt Albers gets Giancarlo Stanton to ground out to shortstop to end the threat.
The Red Sox are just three outs away from a seemingly-inevitable victory, and moving back within a game of the .500 mark.
Bottom 8th, 10-2 Red Sox: After facing just one batter, Vicente Padilla departs, bringing in former Marlin Andrew Miller. This marks the first time Miller has faced his former club since departing at the conclusion of the 2010 season.
As some may remember, Miller started his career with Detroit before being a key piece in the Miguel Cabrera trade.
Mid 8th, 10-2 Red Sox: The Red Sox send 11 men to the plate in the top of the eighth inning, scoring six times.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia adds a sacrifice fly to make it 8-2, then Nick Punto — who started the inning with a double — singles home two runners to give the Red Sox a 10-2 advantage.
Top 8th, 7-2 Red Sox: Well, when it rains, it pours. After a week of anemic offensive output, the Red Sox bats have finally come alive.
The Marlins have used three pitchers in the inning so far, and have yet to record an out. Pedroia, Gonzalez and Ortiz have all put up RBI singles in the inning, adding three to the Sox' tally and putting them up 7-2 with three outs still to go in the top of the eighth.
End 7th, 4-2 Red Sox: The Marlins hitters may be figuring out Doubront his third time through the lineup, but the lefty did well to mitigate the damage.
After Ramirez led off the inning with a single, Giancarlo Stanton followed him with a double to left. However, Doubront allowed only one run to score — on an RBI groundout to shortstop by Ruggiano — before getting out of the inning on a Gaby Sanchez flyout.
End 6th, Red Sox 4-1: Any thoughts of a no hitter — or even a shutout — were ended on one swing with two outs in the bottom of the sixth by Jose Reyes, who hits a towering drive down the left field line.
However, Doubront strikes out two more Marlins for a total of 9 on the evening. His pitch count stands at 87.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 4-0: The Red Sox score two in the top of the 6th. Scott Podsednik leads off the inning with a bloop single to center, and moves to second on Pedroia's single to right. Then Adrian Gonzalez singles home Podsednik, and Ortiz hits a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Pedroia.
However, the Sox waste a chance to add more, as Will Middlebrooks hits in to a 5-4-3 double play.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 2-0: Doubront has yet another 1-2-3 inning, adding his sixth strikeout on the night.
Thus far, Doubront has only allowed one baserunner in the game — a walk to Donovan Solano back in the second inning.
Top 5th, Red Sox 2-0: Here's the video of that Hanley Ramirez grab on Adrian Gonzalez' liner last inning.
End 4th, Red Sox 2-0: Doubront puts down the Marlins in order again, picking up another strikeout in the process for five total on the night.
Top 4th, Red Sox 2-0: David Ortiz hits his 15th home run of the year, a line drive solo shot to the opposite field. The fans in The Clevelander in Marlins Park's left field just got a souvenir.
Top 4th, Red Sox 1-0: Hanley Ramirez robs Adrian Gonzalez of extra bases with a leaping grab of the right fielder's line drive. The ball was absolutely scorched.
Looks like Ramirez is taking well to his transition to third base.
End 3rd, Red Sox 1-0: Doubront strikes out the side in the bottom of the third, giving him four through three innings.
Downside? He's already at 50 pitches for the game.
Mid 3rd, 1-0 Red Sox: Maybe it won't be the big hit, but doing the little things that get the Red Sox out of their offensive funk.
Mike Aviles leads off the inning with a single to center, where the ball is booted by Marlins center fielder Justin Ruggiano, allowing Aviles to take second. Doubront gets the sacrifice down to move Aviles to third, and Podsednik knocks him in with a ground out to second.
1-0 Red Sox, middle of the third.
End 2nd, 0-0: Still looking for the game's first hit through two innings, as the Marlins go down in order to end the bottom half.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: The Red Sox waste a leadoff walk to David Ortiz, go down in order thereafter.
Bottom 1st, 0-0: Interesting note on Hanley Ramirez. Despite Marlins Park's reputation as a pitcher's park, in 2012 Ramirez owns a .901 OPS at home, and a .674 OPS on the road.
Bottom 1st, 0-0: The Red Sox have done it. They have finally prevented Jose Reyes from getting a triple in the first inning. Reyes pops out to Pedroia to begin the Marlins' half of the first.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Nolasco is mixing in his split-finger fastball early, and it already looks like he has a great feel for it as he sets the Red Sox down 1-2-3 in the top of the first, striking out Scott Podsednik and Adrian Gonzalez.
7:11 p.m.: Underway with the first pitch at 7:11.
7 p.m.: Tonight's game would seem to feature two very evenly-matched pitchers, though Nolasco clearly has the advantage in experience.
Doubront's relative consistency has slightly obscured the fact that he brings a 1.43 WHIP into Wednesday's start. That's a figure that suggest last week's start (in which he allowed six earned runs in four innings to the Washington Nationals) may be more a trend than aberration.
Nolasco, on the other hand, has been equally consistent-if-unspectacular. The 29-year-old has a similarly-positive win-loss record of 6-4, but has also been more an innings-eater than frontline starter, allowing a 1.35 WHIP and 4.36 ERA.
Marlins Park may be a pitcher's haven, but both Nolasco and Doubront are ground ball pitchers, meaning they won't take advantage of the stadium's large outfield as much.
Let's hope that trend stays true, and we don't have to see that horrendous home run sculpture in center field come to life.
5 p.m.: David Ortiz is back in the lineup tonight against the right-handed Marlins starter Ricky Nolasco, and he'll be manning first base in the interleague matchup's rubber game.
The trickle down effect of the lineup switch is that Kevin Youkilis gets the night off, with Will Middlebrooks at third base and Adrian Gonzalez back in right field.
Once again, Jose Reyes leads off for the Marlins, and he's started off their half of the first inning with triples each of the last two nights. Otherwise their lineup looks relatively status quo, with catch Brett Hayes taking over behind the plate for John Buck.
Check out both lineups below, as the Red Sox try to move within a game of the .500 mark.
Red Sox (30-32)
Podsednik, LF
Pedroia, 2B
Gonzalez, RF
Ortiz, 1B
Middlebrooks, 3B
Saltalamacchia, C
Sweeney, CF
Aviles, SS
Doburont, LHP
Marlins (32-30)
Reyes, SS
Solano, LF
Ramirez, 3B
Stanton, RF
Infante, 2B
Ruggiano, CF
Sanchez, 1B
Hayes, C
Nolasco, RHP
8 a.m.: Up until his last start, Felix Doubront (6-3, 4.34 ERA) was considered the rock of the Red Sox' rotation, one of the team's only consistencies in an inconsistent season.
However, taking on the Washington Nationals last Friday, Doubront lasted only four innings, giving up eight hits and six earned runs to take his third loss of the season in easily his worst effort of the 2012 campaign.
That game also marked the beginning of a woeful stretch for the Red Sox offense, which has scored as many as four runs only once in the past five games, including its 2-1 victory over the Miami Marlins Tuesday night.
In the rubber game of the series the Sox look to move back within a game of the .500 mark, and they will be taking on Marlins right-hander Ricky Nolasco (6-4, 4.36 ERA) in what looks to be a battle of two very consistent middle-rotation starters.
First pitch is at 7:10 p.m., so be sure to tune into NESN for all your Red Sox coverage, starting with the pregame at 6 p.m.
