Villanueva v. Beckett (Game 46)

I suppose the best way to describe Beckett's performance today would be to call it uneven. He gave up four homeruns that scored six of the Brewers runs but he also struck out nine. He went seven innings on one hundred and six pitches and gave up six hits but walked only one.

Manny Del came in for the eighth inning. It wasn't a superb outing: he gave up two hits and allowed a run to score but it wasn't terrible. He gave up two hits to the first two batters he faced (a single and a double.) The next batter grounded out to second for the first out but also knocked in a run. He got the next batter to strike out swinging and the last batter flew out to left.

Papelbon finished off the Brewers in the ninth inning. The Brewers decided to be ultra-aggressive with him and the first two batters swung at the first pitch he threw and the first flew out to right. The second batter got a base hit. The third batter took a strike and then flew out to right. The fourth batter struck out looking on five pitches.

That was a couple of really weird games in a row; last night was an error filled game and tonight was a homerun filled game. The Red Sox combined for four homeruns (Pedroia had one, Ortiz had two, and Youkilis had one.) They also continued with the leaving men on base routine by leaving nine men on base throughout the game. And Ellsbury was caught stealing for the first time.

In the first inning, Pedroia walked and then Ortiz doubled to bring him in. In the third inning, Pedroia and Ortiz both hit homeruns. In the fourth inning, the first three batters reached to load the bases (on an error, a single, and a walk) but then Coco struck out, Lugo walked to bring in another run, Ellsbury singled to bring in two more runs, Lugo was caught in a rundown for the second out, and Ellsbury was caught stealing. In the fifth inning, Pedroia singled and Ortiz got a homerun. In the sixth inning, Lugo singled, moved over to second on a groundout by Ellsbury, and then scored on a single by Pedroia. And in the seventh inning, Lowell singled and Youkilis got a homerun.