This entire game was a struggle for Jon Lester. He gave up hits, he gave up walks and his pitch count soared. He got bailed out by two double plays and was lucky to get out of this game only giving up 3 runs on a 3 run home run by Chris Young in the 4th and in position to pick up the win. When he left Tazawa bailed him out of a 2 out bases loaded jam. When all was said and done he pitched 5.2 innings, gave up 6 hits, 6 walks, 3 earned runs and got 5 strikeouts. By no means an impressive start from the ace, but the game was still in their grasp so he gets some credit for that.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: C
Junichi Tazawa came into a tough situation to finish out the 6th inning with 3 runners on base and 2 outs and came through by getting Coco Crisp to fly out. Tazawa seemed to be cruising in the 7th as well until Jed Lowrie hit a 2 out double and he was brought in by a follow up single. After this Miller was brought in to close out the 7th. Miller collected the strikeout to end the inning. Koji Uehara came out for the 8th with a 6-4 lead and immediately gave up a solo home run to Chris Young to cut the lead to 1 run. Young had a monster game against Red Sox pitching going 2 for 3 with a walk and two home runs. Uehara managed to settle down after this and got the next 3 batters in order with two strikeouts. Uehara has definitely cooled off from his early season form giving up a solo home run in each of his last two appearances. Bailey came on to close in the 9th and was really impressive striking out the side while holding on to a slim 1 run lead.
BULLPEN GRADE: C
The Red Sox offense was pretty quiet for most of the day, but managed to get some serious damage done in the 4th and 5th innings to provide the necessary runs to win this game. In the 4th Ortiz and Napoli hit back to back doubles to get on the board. Jonny Gomes walked and Stephen Drew hit a two out triple to score two more. It was Drew's only hit of the night, but it was a big one. The Red Sox kept the pressure on Brett Anderson in the 5th as Ellsbury lead off the inning with a single and then stole second. Victorino brought Ellsbury in with a double. Pedroia and Ortiz had back to back singles to bring in Victorino. At this point Bob Melvin had seen enough of Anderson and pulled him for Chris Resop. Resop didn't fare much better immediately hitting Napoli to load the bases. Daniel Nava got a single to bring in Dustin Pedroia from third and keep the bases loaded, still with no outs in the inning. Resop managed to get Will Middlebrooks out before being pulled for Jerry Blevins, the third A's pitcher of the inning with bases loaded and one out. Blevins got the final two outs to end the threat and keep the game in striking distance for the A's at 6 to 3. The top and middle of the order did a lot of the heavy lifting this game with Pedroia, Ortiz, Napoli and Victorino all coming in with doubles, contributing runs and RBIs. Ortiz has been a real shot in the arm for this lineup, but he's still looking for that power stroke as we wait for his first home run of the year. Daniel Nava had another good game going 2 for 2 with an RBI. Middlebrooks continues to slump going 0 for 4 in the game and 0 for 2 with runners in scoring position. David Ross also went 0 for 4 in this game and 0 for 2 with runners in scoring position. The catcher spot has been a real problem this year for the Red Sox. Salty is inconsistent at the plate and terrible defensively. Ross is a better defensive catcher, but I don't think we can realistically expect to see much production out of him at the plate.
Hitting Grade: B+
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