This was a strange outing for John Lackey. He worked 7 innings with 1 earned run. That looks like a pretty good start, but there were 4 additional unearned runs scored. Those runs scored on an error by John Lackey, so although he hasn't been charged with those runs as earned runs, I still feel like he's responsible for them. He did have some good stuff and some strong innings otherwise, so I'll try to take that as a silver lining.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: C+
Koji Uehara struck out the side in order in the 8th for an impressive outing to keep the game close. It's nice to see a little more of that dominant early season form from Uehara again. Craig Breslow came in for the 9th, still a tight game at 5-3. Breslow got hit hard by the Twins on Tuesday when he couldn't record an out and gave up 3 costly hits and a walk to blow the game wide open. Breslow performed much better last night. The leadoff batter reached on an error from Middlebrooks, but he didn't let that phase him and got the next three batters out. It was nice to see him bounce back against the same team that rocked him a few nights ago. Two no-hit/no-walk innings from the bullpen in a tight game is a very solid showing.
BULLPEN GRADE: A+
This was a frustrating game for the Red Sox. The production was there, but it didn't translate into runs like it should have. The telling stat for the Red Sox offense in this game is the 10 runners left on base despite a respectable 3 for 6 with runners in scoring position.. Pedroia, Victorino and Nava all had multi-hit games and managed to contribute to the runs that the Red Sox did put on the board. David Ortiz failed to get on base and went 0 for 5. In all 5 at bats David Ortiz would be the out that ended the inning. Every time Ortiz stranded a base runner at 1st base. It just goes to show how much this lineup needs David Ortiz to be productive. David Ross and Mike Carp combined to go 0 for 4 from the 9 spot as well.
BATTING GRADE: D+
Hopefully the Red Sox can pull out of this skid tonight against the Jays. The Jays starting pitcher will be Ramon Ortiz. Ramon will be 40 in two weeks (maybe older as he was born in the Dominican Republic) and has spent his career bouncing around from the minors to the pros of various teams and even spent some time in Japan. He spent last season with the Yankees AAA affiliate and has been bouncing between Toronto and their minor league club the Buffalo Bisons. Ortiz's only appearance this season was in relief against the White Sox on mop up duty in mid April. He worked 3.1 innings and gave up 2 earned runs on 5 hits. That said, he is 2-0 with a 2.18 ERA in the minors. Still, this guy is an older journeyman type and the Red Sox bats should be able to get back on track against him.
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