In his second start since coming off the DL, Jon Lester pitched eight strong innings of two-run ball to stop the Red Sox losing streak at two. Lester also fanned eight batters en route to his 11th win of the season.
Chicago starting pitcher Philip Humber started well for the White Sox, cruising through the first four innings. However, he ran into some trouble in the fifth, as the Red Sox scored four runs.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia continued his torrid stretch by ripping an RBI double to right center. One batter later, Marco Scutaro hit a sacrifice fly to right field to put Boston up 2-0. Dustin Pedroia hit a sacrifice of his own to extend the lead to three. Kevin Youkilis finished off the assault by reaching on an infield single, scoring Jacoby Ellsbury in the process.
Lester only had two mistakes in the game. A solo home run to Paul Konerko and Gordon Beckham. Other than those blemishes, he looked really good and hopefully he can keep this up with the news that Clay Buccholz may have a serious back issue.
Boston poured on five more runs in the ninth, thanks in large part to a two-run shot by Adrian Gonzalez, his first round tripper since July 7th. Youkilis followed that up by crushing a solo shot to deep left field. The offensive attack wasn’t nearly over. Saltalamacchia hit his second RBI double of the game, followed by an RBI single off the bat of Scutaro.
When it was all said and done, Boston had 10 runs on the board and had an eight-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth.
With the win, the Red Sox improve to 65-40 and end their seven-game losing streak to Chicago dating back to last year. The White Sox fall to 52-53. The two teams will play the rubber match of the series today at 2:10 PM. Andrew Miller will be squaring off against Mark Buerhle.
