Sox: 10 Stros: 11
For the Red Sox tonight, that problem was pitching. Rarely do the Sox score 10 runs in a game, but come away with the loss. The bats were hot, but the arms were not. Lester, in a departure from his stellar record this month, struggled tonight as he let a 4 run lead slip away in the 3rd inning. The Sox came back with 5 runs in the 6th, but that lead also got away, courtesy of a series of messy innings from the 'pen. Mikey L. hit a long one in the top of the 9th, but all it ended up doing for the Sox is giving them a double-digit score, one run short of the 'Stros, who were much fiestier at the plate tonight than last night. Four-baggers by the Houston team were the Achilles heel of the Sox pitching staff all night long. First, Pedey's predecessor at second base, Mark Loretta, hurt his old team with a 3-run shot in the 3rd off a sore-ankled Lester. Then, Carlos Lee added insult to injury with a solo dinger in the 5th. In the 8th, off MDC, Ty Wigginton launched another long ball. To state the obvious, pitching took a holiday.
As bad as the pitching was tonight, the bright spot in the game was the Sox offense. Pedey has been one extremely tough out these past two games. He went 4 for 5 tonight after going 3 for 4 last night. Mikey Lowell matched Pedey's four hits with four of his own, including that 9th inning homer. Youk, who hit four last night, added two more tonight. It's a great time to have Pedey and Mikey getting hot, with JD cooling off a bit and Manny in a dry spell (even though both JD and Manny got hits tonight). Youk's been pretty steady throughout the first half of the season. The .300 club now includes Pedey, JD, and Youk, with Mikey just shy of the mark at .297. Casey's in there as well, at .358, but he has had far fewer at-bats than the others.
Tomorrow, Beckett takes the mound to try to get the team's pitching back on track.
LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!
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