Final, Red Sox 10-3: The Red Sox’s offense exploded Friday.
The Red Sox produced 11 hits en route to a 10-3 win over the Indians at Fenway Park. Boston has won two in a row to kick off its seven-game homestand following a 2-7 road trip.
The Red Sox, like they did in Thursday’s series opener, received contributions from up and down the lineup. David Ortiz was the only player in the starting lineup without a hit, yet he walked three times.
Dustin Pedroia, Mike Napoli and A.J. Pierzynski each drove in two runs. Jackie Bradley Jr. joined Napoli and Daniel Nava in collecting two hits, including a triple. Xander Bogaerts went deep.
John Lackey earned his eighth win of the season after tossing 6 2/3 innings of three-run ball. He struck out five and walked one.
End 8th, Red Sox 10-3: Xander Bogaerts crushed his sixth home run of the season in the eighth inning.
Bogaerts jacked a solo homer off one of the light towers located atop the Green Monster. It was a no-doubter right off the bat.
Bogaerts’ blast came off Cody Allen, who Terry Francona brought in prior to the at-bat to set up a right-on-right matchup. Lefty Josh Outman had retired Jackie Bradley Jr. and Brock Holt to begin the inning.
Dustin Pedroia worked a two-out walk. David Ortiz struck out to end the inning.
Burke Badenhop will pitch the ninth inning for Boston. Badenhop enters in the midst of a 13-inning scoreless streak. He has gone 27 1/3 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 9-3: Andrew Miller needed just seven pitches to breeze through the eighth inning.
Jason Kipnis, Lonnie Chisenhall and David Murphy went down without a fight.
All three outs were flyouts.
End 7th, Red Sox 9-3: The Red Sox have opened things up.
Jackie Bradley Jr. and Brock Holt began the bottom of the seventh inning with back-to-back singles. Bradley took third base on Holt’s base hit, which sent Marc Rzepczynski to the showers.
Bryan Shaw entered and retired Xander Bogaerts, who actually homered off Shaw last week in Cleveland. The right-hander fell behind Dustin Pedroia, though, and Pedey drilled two-run double over Michael Bourn’s head in center field.
The Indians opted to intentionally walk David Ortiz with first base open — a wise move considering Thursday’s events.
Mike Napoli dropped a base hit in front of right fielder David Murphy. Murphy attempted to play the ball on a short hop, but it deflected off him, enabling Pedroia to race around from second base.
The Indians turned to Josh Outman at that point. He was greeted by Daniel Nava, who yanked an RBI double into the left field corner. It’s encouraging to see Nava finally produce at a high level, especially from both sides of the plate. Nava has five hits the last two nights.
The Red Sox’s nine runs are their most since May 14. They’re 7-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 5-3: John Lackey exited the game after surrendering a two-out double in the seventh inning.
Lackey retired Ryan Raburn and Michael Bourn before Asdrubal Cabrera doubled to left field. John Farrell turned to Andrew Miller with four straight left-handed hitters coming up for Cleveland.
Miller faced just one lefty in the seventh because he retired Michael Brantley on a ground ball to first base.
Lackey was charged with three earned runs on seven hits over 6 2/3 innings. He struck out five, walked one and threw 110 pitches (72 strikes).
End 6th, Red Sox 5-3: Marc Rzepczynski not only has a crazy last name. He also was very effective in the sixth inning.
Rzepczynsi retired Daniel Nava, A.J. Pierzynki and Jonathan Herrera in the sixth inning.
Nava and Pierzynski scattered flyouts to right field and center field.
Herrera struck out swinging on a 1-2 slider.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 5-3: Dustin Pedroia is getting dirty, per usual.
Pedroia, who made an excellent diving play on a line drive back in the first inning, turned heads in the sixth inning by laying out for a ground ball on the lip of the outfield grass. Pedroia’s diving stop robbed Lonnie Chisenhall of a hit.
Brock Holt also flashed some leather in the sixth inning. He got a good jump on a line drive to left field from David Murphy and made a running catch near the warning track.
Yan Gomes walked before John Lackey closed down the inning.
End 5th, Red Sox 5-3: Scott Atchison stayed on for the fifth inning.
Atchison walked David Ortiz with one out but escaped the inning by inducing a ground-ball double play.
Mike Napoli grounded right back to Atchison, who turned and fired to second base to begin the double play.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 5-3: Xander Bogaerts provided a high and a low defensively in the fifth inning.
Michael Bourn looked to bunt his way on to begin the fifth. Bogaerts charged in to make a barehanded play before firing a strike to first base for the out. Bogaerts continues to show excellent footwork on such slow rollers since shifting to third base.
Bogaerts got eaten up by a sharp ground ball from Michael Brantley with two outs, though. Bogaerts recovered, but Brantley beat out a bang-bang play at first.
Jason Kipnis popped out to Bogaerts in foul territory to end the inning.
End 4th, Red Sox 5-3: Kyle Crockett and Scott Atchison combined to keep the Red Sox’s offense at bay in the fourth.
Jonathan Herrera led off with an infield single.
Jackie Bradley Jr. grounded into a force out and Brock Holt lined out to left field, at which point Terry Francona called upon Atchison, who also pitched Thursday.
Atchison, a former Red Sox, retired Xander Bogaerts on a popout to second base.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 5-3: John Lackey settled down for a 1-2-3 fourth inning after surrendering two runs in the third inning.
Yan Gomes grounded out to third base for the first out. Carlos Santana and Ryan Raburn both put the ball in the air, flying out to right field and center field, respectively.
End 3rd, Red Sox 5-3: Justin Masterson simply didn’t have it.
Indians manager Terry Francona saw enough after Masterson walked Xander Bogaerts and Dustin Pedroia to begin the bottom of the third.
Francona turned to reliever Kyle Crockett, who retired David Ortiz to begin his appearance. Mike Napoli fared much better, lining a two-run double into the right field corner to give Boston a 5-3 lead.
Masterson was charged with five earned runs on three hits over two-plus innings of work. He walked four and didn’t strike out anyone while throwing 59 pitches (28 strikes).
Mid 3rd, 3-3: The Red Sox and Indians are trading blows.
Asdrubal Cabrera led off the third inning with a double off the Green Monster. He scored when Michael Brantley followed with a double of his own.
John Lackey rebounded to retire the next three hitters, including two by strikeouts, but we’re all tied up at three apiece.
Jason Kipnis and Lonnie Chisenhall struck out in the third inning.
End 2nd, Red Sox 3-2: The Red Sox’s offense answered in a big way in the bottom of the second inning.
A.J. Pierzynski drilled a two-run double and Jackie Bradley Jr. smacked an RBI triple as Boston grabbed its first lead of the game.
Justin Masterson was erratic to begin the inning. He walked both David Ortiz and Mike Napoli.
Daniel Nava, who has shown a lot of improvement offensively of late, then singled into center field. Third base coach Brian Butterfield waved in Ortiz, but Indians center fielder Michael Bourn delivered a good throw home to nab the lumbering slugger.
Pierzynski made sure Napoli and Nava had no issues crossing the plate. He hit a fly ball into the triangle to tie the game at two apiece. Pierzynski thought about trying to stretch it but ultimately settled for a double.
A double was all Pierzynski needed. After Pierzynski took third base on Jonathan Herrera’s groundout, Bradley launched a ball into the right-center field gap and motored his way into third base.
Bradley made an impact with his arm and his glove Thursday. He’s making some noise with his bat in this one.
Mid 2nd, Indians 2-0: Carlos Santana sure was smooth in the second inning.
Santana launched a two-run homer over the Indians’ bullpen to give the Tribe a 2-0 lead against John Lackey.
David Murphy set the table with a one-out single into center field.
Lackey struck out Yan Gomes with a 1-2 fastball that caught the bottom of the strike zone, but the right-hander hung an 0-2 curveball to Santana. Santana knew exactly what to do with it.
Ryan Raburn extended the inning with a single into left field before Lackey struck out Michael Bourn. Bourn has struck out twice in this game.
End 1st, 0-0: Justin Masterson’s velocity remains down.
Masterson, who once threw around 93-95 consistently, sat at around 88-90 mph with his fastball in the first inning.
Masterson still worked a 1-2-3 inning, though. Brock Holt, Xander Bogaerts and Dustin Pedroia all put the ball on the ground.
Jason Kipnis’ throw brought first baseman Carlos Santana off the bag on Bogaerts’ grounder to second base. Santana managed to make the catch and tag Bogaerts for the out.
Pedroia drilled a comebacker that Masterson snagged while playing a little self-defense.
Mid 1st, 0-0: It didn’t take long for Dustin Pedroia to make a highlight-reel grab.
Pedroia dove to take a hit away from Asdrubal Cabrera in the first inning. Cabrera smoked a line drive right on the screws, and Pedroia took one step to his right before laying out to make the catch on the fly.
Cabrera’s lineout succeeded a game-opening strikeout for John Lackey, who worked quickly in the first inning.
Michael Brantley singled into center field with two outs, but Lackey rebounded to retire Jason Kipnis on a slow grounder to second base.
7:12 p.m.: John Lackey fires a strike through the rain drops.
7:10 p.m.: Carlton Fisk and Keith Lockhart threw out the ceremonial first pitches. Good times.
7:03 p.m.: I jinxed it. A light rain has begun to fall at Fenway.
6:52 p.m.: John Lackey has gone eight innings in each of his last two starts. If he’s able to accomplish the feat again Friday against the Indians, it’ll tie the longest such streak of Lackey’s career.
Lackey has thrown at least five innings in a career-best 37 consecutive starts dating back to May 19, 2013. It’s the third-best active streak in the American League behind Justin Verlander (39) and Jered Weaver (38).
6:44 p.m.: It was pouring at Fenway Park a couple of hours ago. It has cleared up, though, and the tarp is off the field.
It’s still overcast at Fenway, but there’s no precipitation in sight at the moment. Keep your fingers crossed that remains the case.
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6:30 p.m.: Xander Bogaerts returns to the Red Sox’s lineup Friday after receiving a night off Thursday.
Bogaerts had started 30 straight games before sitting out Thursday’s series opener against the Indians. Red Sox manager John Farrell thought some fatigue was starting to settle in and thus decided to give the 21-year-old a breather. Bogaerts enters Friday’s game 0 for his last 16 with five strikeouts.
Shortstop Stephen Drew remains out of the lineup with an oblique injury. This will make it five straight games missed for Drew, who suffered the injury during Sunday’s series finale in Detroit. Farrell said before Friday’s game that Drew was going to hit in the cage, after which he’d be reevaluated to see if an MRI is necessary.
Friday’s complete lineups are below.
Boston Red Sox (30-36)
Brock Holt, LF
Xander Bogaerts, 3B
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Mike Napoli, 1B
Daniel Nava, RF
A.J. Pierzynski, C
Jonathan Herrera, SS
Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
John Lackey, RHP (7-4, 3.18 ERA)
Cleveland Indians (33-34)
Michael Bourn, CF
Asdrubal Cabrera, SS
Michael Brantley, LF
Jason Kipnis, 2B
Lonnie Chisenhall, 3B
David Murphy, RF
Yan Gomes, C
Carlos Santana, 1B
Ryan Raburn, DH
Justin Masterson, RHP (4-4, 4.61 ERA)
6 p.m. ET: Justin Masterson took Round 1. Can John Lackey come out punching in Round 2?
Lackey and Masterson squared off last week during the Cleveland Indians’ sweep of the Boston Red Sox at Progressive Field. Both pitchers pitched well, but it was Masterson who walked away with a win after tossing seven shutout innings.
Masterson, who wiggled out of a first-inning jam in that June 2 start against Boston, struck out 10 while surrendering just three hits. He followed up the performance with 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball in his last start Sunday against the Texas Rangers, and it finally looks like the 29-year-old free agent-to-be is getting on track following a rough patch in which his diminished velocity was heavily scrutinized.
Lackey, who allowed three earned runs in a losing effort against Cleveland on June 2, enters Friday’s game on the heels of a solid start against the Detroit Tigers. Lackey gave up three runs (two earned) over eight innings Sunday against the Tigers and earned a victory after David Ortiz launched a go-ahead, three-run homer off Joba Chamberlain in the top of the ninth inning.
The Red Sox, who returned to Fenway on Thursday following a nine-game road trip in which they went 2-7, began a seven-game homestand with a 5-2 win. Boston now will look to build on the victory in a Friday night showdown featuring an intriguing pitching matchup.
Friday’s first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Tune in on NESN, and keep it right here with NESN.com’s live blog.
