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Closing time: Lineup explodes as Red Sox coast to win over Blue Jays 06.27.12 at 4:17 pm ET
By Jon Lemons

Tuesday night, the Red Sox waited until late in the game to break out the offense against the Blue Jays. Wednesday afternoon, they wasted no time getting to work.

Or, to be a bit precise, almost no time. The Sox actually found themselves down 1-0 when they came to bat in the first, as Jon Lester gave up two hits to the Jays’ first two batters of the game. Lester however, settled down to retire the next three in a row.

But Blue Jays pitcher Ricky Romero could not recover from his own early struggles, instead facing issues with staying in the strike zone. The left-hander walked two of the first three batters he faced and six overall. When he did get the ball over the plate, the Sox made him pay, hammering shots all over the park en route to a 6-1 lead in the first and an eventual 10-4 win.

The damage was done up and down the lineup. David Ortiz had yet another monster game, walloping a homer and walking three times, while Cody Ross, Adrian Gonzalez and Mike Aviles all had multi-hit efforts.

Lester, meanwhile, retired 17 of 18 batters after giving up the two early hits, as the Sox claimed one of their easier victories in some time.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

– Offensively, where to begin? The Sox batted around in the first inning, the 11th time this year. The 10 runs represented the most Boston’s offense has scored this year with Lester pitching. Lester had entered the game with the second lowest average run support among Sox starters.

– Ortiz had quite the day, with three walks, and four runs, including a solo home run, the 399th in his career. Ortiz is on pace for 45 homers and 50 doubles. There are just 11 seasons in baseball history of 40+ homers and at least 50 doubles, and none by a player who was older than 29 years old.

– Cody Ross went 2-for-3 with a double, his eighth extra-base hit in nine games since returning from the disabled list.

WHAT WENT WRONG

– Lester allowed hit a few rough patches in the outing and the Jays were able to capitalize. After jumping out to a 1-0 lead to start the game, the Jays power-bats took Lester deep for two home runs to make it a 10-4 game. He struggled in the sixth inning, giving up a double to Bautista and a home run to Encarnacion. He allowed two homers, just the second time this year he’s given up multiple homers in the same game.

Though he evened his record at 5-5 and delivered seven innings, Lester allowed four runs on seven hits (including a pair of massive homers, his second multi-homer game of the year), as his ERA crept up from 4.48 to 4.53. He has allowed at least three runs in eight straight starts, the longest such run of his career.

– Will Middlebrooks went 0-for-4, completing a three-game series in which he went 1-for-11 with a pair of errors.

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  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/ZVFM2HRNC5CTO2OUXD4XTX65O4 Dennis

     When Crawford and Ellsbury come back—the Sox will have 3 outfielders too many(Lillibridge/Nava/Kalish). Now what?

  • nate

     Ya they will. Maybe have Nava and Kalish platoon right field for awhile. Who knows about lillibridge

  • Bobby C

    Lillibridge plays infield also.

  • FrontOffice

    Don’t forget Ross

  • Thommy Chu Chu

    MIddlebrooks pooping his pants now that he’s ‘the man’ at third base. He sucks – awful overachiever. Should change his name to “Middle-of-the-Road-Brooks”. Get ready for mediocrity out of this guy young forward. Don’t forget his back-to-back errors in two games either. What a loser.

  • i still believe

    yeah because you would clearly have fielded every ball hit to you cleanly yeah. O wait have you even played the sport or are you a fat @$$ turd sitting at the games with a 40 in one hand and a frank in the other? or do you even go to the games? the guy is there for a reason, just like how you’re at home for a reason. whose the real loser? 

  • Ferdinand Magellan

    Hey, don’t make fun of my fat bud. Middlebrooks is really in trouble. Just look at his offensive/defensive numbers since the Youk deal went down. He’s clearly choking on the pressure now. Big gamble by the front office in making this AA player the starting third baseman. He’s literally pooping his pants now. Sox in. It trouble with that stiff at third.

  • Ronjb441960

    bottom line  pats fans  they won  4-3  mean we are in1st place  i am happy :)

  • Tcarlock3

    quit hatin on the pats n gt yo life they in 1st place so all smiles on my endtcarlock

  • Guest123

    I think the Bengals deserve to be higher than the Lions. The Lions have just looked terrible.

  • Bam9er

    BB, cut off sweat pants? jesus h christ.

  • Zouki

    I’d be interested to see stats from last year to see how much if any the 2011 secondary improved after the bye week. It’s all fine to talk about “adjustments” but do they really happen, at least to a degree that makes a difference? And regarding the pass-rush: I thought Chandler Jones was supposed to be another Jean-Pierre Paul, and up to now I haven’t seen it. If Jones is as capable as he seems to be, what’s holding him back?

  • Brady for MVP HQ

    You really think that if you were a fan of another team, you would be happy to see the Pats were coming to town.  No way.  No chance.  Pats will still make a lot of noise this year.

  • http://www.facebook.com/JRyder6868 Japhy Ryder

    The Patriots aren’t even a top 10 team at this point. They’ve lost to two teams outside of the top ten, and should have lost to New York. This team would be very lucky to be in the top 15.

  • Bisonhockey5

    the vikings at 14? you have got to be kidding me. there are only 3 teams with a better record then them and yet they’re still 14th? they should be at worst ranked 9. the worst rankings i have ever seen this year. and also the packers are 5th yet they are ranked 3rd in the nfc north? seems legit. you suck

  • Justchillin01

    the packers are 5th yet they are ranked 3rd in the nfc north.  I think Green Bay is playing good offense. Still don’t think they have a good defense.  But you sir bring up a great point with them being 3rd in their own division and are rank way to high.    

  • logan

    im a patriot fan eagle fan packer fan  jaguar fan and the falcons

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7ZCDPVISSRBRA3GQQNSHOOECCU YourNeighbor

    NFL Fan. You are clueless. Their easy schedule was based on last years numbers. They play the NFC West which this year turns out to be the best division in the NFL. All four of the teams are ranked in the top 10 in defense. Based on team records and defensive rankings they have one of the hardest schedules this year. So much for the easy schedule genius. 

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  • Parity Pete

    NFL Fan – Schedules based on the previous years record historically do not reflect the strength of the teams the following year and if you are getting your “facts” from ESPN you have a multitude of other issues to deal with. The patriots are certainly not playing at an elite level by any means but to discount them because of the “easy” schedule they have is idiotic. Steelers, Green Bay, New Orleans and Detroit were a combined 50-14 last year and are a combined 11-14 so far this year so you can take pointless stats and file them where the sun don’t shine  Thank You

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/3VICLAUHBG3PNNJUZ4FZLAFGSA TRUST BILL

    They “HAD”the easiest on paper! Check again!!!!

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/GUWPGEDO4T2MO3GOSV427CRJTY Jon

    Lets see you think that Arizona, Baltimore, Seattle, Houston, San Francisco and Denver are easy, well the experts say the Pats have the 6th toughest schedule, but you know better, right. Puleeese shut up since you know nothing, and don’t even call yourself an NFL Fan, you insult everyone who really is a fan.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/GUWPGEDO4T2MO3GOSV427CRJTY Jon

    Just what does 2011 have to do with 2012, just look at the Vikes and the Saints? Compare this years Broncos to last and the same with Houston? Compare this years Miami and Indy this years Packers with last years, 2011 don’t mean a thing now.

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