The Red Sox learned about good things coming to an end the hard way Monday night, as an Asdrubal Cabrera home run in the top of the eighth inning both snapped Daniel Bard‘s 26 1/3 scoreless streak and helped the Indians to an 9-6 win at Fenway Park Monday.
The homer, Cabrera’s second of the night, was helped by a video review that showed that the ball, which bounced back to right fielder Josh Reddick, had cleared the fence before coming back. It went as a two-run homer, breaking a 5-5 tie and giving the Indians a lead they would not relinquish. The Sox would come up with a run in the bottom of the ninth thanks to a ground-rule double from Jacoby Ellsbury that scored Mike Avilles, but Dustin Pedroia grounded out following the play to end the game.
Bard would not make it out of the inning, and after entering with a clean frame ended up allowing two hits, three earned runs and the game’s only walk in one-third of an inning. Interestingly enough, the Indians had been the last team to score off of Bard, as he allowed his last run prior to the streak on May 23 against Cleveland.
John Lackey started off in a way previously unseen this season, as he had his first 1-2-3 first inning of 2011, struck out three of the first six batters he faced, and retired the first eight Cleveland batters of the night. Once he did allow a hit, the Indians were able to get to him, as they scored five runs over Lackey’s 6 2/3 innings of work.
While the high point of Lackey’s performance was how began the night, he had trouble in the sixth inning, allowing two home runs and a double. He was brought back out for the seventh inning before leaving with two down following an Ezequiel Carrera single.
WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE RED SOX
‘¢ Jarrod Saltalamacchia had a great night both at the plate and behind it. His ground-rule double in the second inning extended his hit streak to nine games, which tied a career-high for the 26-year-old catcher. His last nine-game hit-streak came as a member of the Rangers, with the streak running from May 23-June 2 of 2009.
Saltalamacchia also gunned down Kosuke Fukudome to end the top of the fourth inning, though his most impressive moment of the night came when he hit a broken-bat two-run homer to right field in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the game at 5.
Adrian Gonzalez also extended his hit streak, as the first baseman has now hit safely in 11 straight games dating back to July 20.
‘¢ Carl Crawford had a solid showing with a double and a homer. Crawford blasted an 88 mph cutter from Cleveland starter Josh Tomlin into the right-field stands for his seventh homer of the season. It was his first home run since returning from the disabled list. Prior to Crawford’s solo shot in the third, his last homer came back on June 8, making it a span of 20 games between homers for the left fielder.
‘¢ While Lackey did give up a pair of sixth-inning dingers ( Cabrera and Travis Hafner went back-to-back), he did not give up a walk in his outing. He’s walked just one batter over his last three starts and has walked three over his last five starts (six, technically, though counting the Fourth of July 2 1/3-inning disaster in a positive light is pure deception).
WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE RED SOX
‘¢ It was not the best night for Josh Reddick. The right fielder was thrown out in a rundown in the second inning after Ellsbury hit a ball back to the mound. Ellsbury reached on the play via fielder’s choice, but Tomlin’s attention was immediately turned to Reddick’s jump, and the rookie was called out diving back to the third on what was eventually a 1-5-2-5-1 fielder’s choice. The out was the second inning, and Tomlin got out of the inning the very next batter when Pedroia flew out to deep right.
Shortly after, things were made The first hit that Lackey did allow ended up being worse than it had to be. Carrera laced a single just past the outstretched glove of Pedroia and into center field, and given the enormous turn Carrera took after reaching first, Reddick had a real shot at catching him by throwing to first. Instead, he went the safe route but greatly overthrew second base, allowing Carerra to advance on the error. The very next batter would knock in the first run of the game, as Michael Brantley drove in Carrera with an RBI double to right.
‘¢ Kevin Youkilis was thrown out trying to score after tripling off the center-field wall in the bottom of the third inning. The third baseman was racing around the bases, nearly catching up to Gonzalez, who scored on the play. When Youkilis saw the throw in get past Indians third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall, he bolted for home, but the throw to Carlos Santana got there in time and the Cleveland catcher held onto it to apply the tag.
‘¢ Marco Scutaro left the game in the bottom of the fourth inning due to dizziness and was replaced by Mike Avilles. If Scutaro needs to go on the disabled list, the Sox will have to hope infielder Jed Lowrie, who went 0-for-2 for Pawtucket on a rehab assignment Monday, can return quickly.
