Red Sox Fall to Toronto in Extras

 

                                                                                           Sports Illustrated

Blue Jays 7 Red Sox 6 F/10

Winning Pitcher: Carlos Villanueva (1-0)

Losing Pitcher: Matt Albers (0-1)

Recap

This was a frustrating game to handle, as the Red Sox had opportunities to win this game and couldn't come through. Jon Lester was on the hill as the Red Sox were looking for a solid game from their ace. Lester was shaky, however, and it took extras but the Jays were able to come away with the victory. Lester's outing started rough as he walked three of the first four batters, and allowed a single to the other. He then gave up a fielder's choice, and a pop out to finish the inning down 3-0. Carl Crawford continued his hot hitting with an RBI single in the second to cut the deficit to two. Boston then started to display their power, and after a David Ortiz solo shot and Adrian Gonzalez's 2-run homer, they had a one run lead. Lester gave up a solo shot to Jose Bautista (his eleventh of the year) in the bottom of the 5th to tie the game at five. Lester gave up another solo home run to JP Arencibia in the 6th and the Jays had another one run lead. Lester was done after 5.1, giving up 5 runs on 7 hits, 5 walks and 5 strikeouts. After each team put a run up in the 8th, the Red Sox headed into the final inning of the game needing a run to force extras. Adrian Gonzalez led off the inning with a home run to left and the game was tied. Jose Iglesias came up for his first career at bat in the inning, and struck out but reached on a wild pitch. Matt Albers came on in the bottom of the inning and put them down 1-2-3. The Sox failed to get anything going in the top of the 10th, and Albers was on his way back out to the mound for the bottom of the inning. He started out by striking out John McDonald, but then allowed a single to Rajai Davis. On a pitch out, Varitek still wasn't able to throw out Davis, and he was on second. The very next pitch, Davis again beat out Varitek's throw and took third base. It was a truly embarrassing moment for a team that consistently fails to strike fear in base runners. David Cooper then hit a deep fly ball to center, and the sac fly gave the Jays a 7-6 victory. 

News and Notes

• Hitting streaks continue to be the cool thing to do in the Red Sox locker room. In the very first at bat of the game, Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to a Major-League high 19 games. It is his longest streak since 2009, when he went for 22 games, and he has been raking lately. He was 3-6 on Tuesday night. Carl Crawford also extended his own streak to 10 games, which is every day of May for those who haven't noticed. Crawford has been seeing the ball well all month, and looks to finally be breaking out of whatever was ailing him in the first month of the season. Crawford only recorded the one hit in the game, but he knocked in a run in the process.

• Adrian Gonzalez was concerning some in Red Sox nation with his power display in April. The guy who hasn't hit less than thirty home runs since 2007, in one of the worst hitters' parks in the bigs no less, hit only one home run up to May 3rd. However, after his two home runs on Tuesday night, Gonzalez is now up to six for the year. The encouraging thing was that both homers were to the opposite field. If he continues to stroke the other way, he should start to become much more acquainted with the Green Monster upon his return to Fenway. 

The Red Sox and Jays finish their short two game series in Toronto tomorrow night at 7:07 PM ET. John Lackey (2-4 7.16) looks to right his awful season against Jesse Litch (3-2 4.04).