Red Sox Finish Huge Sweep Behind Beltre's 6 RBIs

by Ben Buchanan on May 26, 2010 10:39 PM EDT in Game Stories

Not many Red Sox hit Matt Garza well. With a combined .635 OPS against the Rays' starter, Sox fans couldn't be hoping for much offense tonight.

But then there was the one guy who does hit him well: Adrian Beltre. That .846 OPS against Garza is gonna be a lot higher after tonight's 4 hits, including 2 homers and a triple that knocked in 6 of the Red Sox' 11 runs on the night. 2 more came from David Ortiz, who continued his torrid May by smacking a 2-run bomb into the stands in right.

John Lackey, on the other hand, had the type of numbers against the Rays that make you want to skip the game entirely. But the same Rays who averaged an OPS over .900 against Lackey could only score 2 runs off of him--though that was perhaps more a matter of luck then skill. Lackey allowed 12 baserunners over 6.1 innings, missing very few bats and recording only 1 strikeout. But when the results have been as bad as they have from Lackey, the Sox will certainly take what they can get.

Ramon Ramirez and Hideki Okajima combined for 1.2 scoreless innings before Joe Nelson gave up a meaningless home run to Ben Zobrist in the 9th.

A big sweep for the Red Sox, who look to capitalize on their momentum against a soft part of their schedule. They head home to face the Royals in a 4-game series tomorrow.

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SWEEP

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by bestbostonsports on May 26, 2010 11:00 PM EDT reply actions

Wow

I was out all evening and did not expect to come home to this. Hell yeah!

by brogshan on May 26, 2010 11:13 PM EDT reply actions

Beltre might have save my fantasy week

by brogshan on May 26, 2010 11:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Cake schedule coming up for the next 14

We better not lay down now….keep it going

I’m seeing 10-4 and a 37-25 record by June 10th

YOU CAN DOOIT!

by BobZupcic on May 26, 2010 11:21 PM EDT reply actions

Don't under estimate Oakland.

They can bring it from the pitching side.

by went9 on May 27, 2010 2:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Thank you, John Lackey

for salvaging SOMETHING of this night, given the horror show in Orlando.

by mmmmm on May 26, 2010 11:24 PM EDT reply actions

Ugh. Even this sweep isn’t making me feel better about that horrible game

by cheekmeister on May 27, 2010 12:13 AM EDT up reply actions

I am too happy to be sad

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by bestbostonsports on May 27, 2010 12:19 AM EDT up reply actions

Ok I was joking about the Sweep before this match up happened...

Recall said it was a fantasy..forgive me…again my dream became reality! Yooouuukkk!!!

by Ol' Green Boyz on May 26, 2010 11:33 PM EDT reply actions

Awesomeness

I broke down and paid for the MLB.TV this afternoon, and I think I am going to be very glad I did before the summer is over. I missed the game thread because the game was over before I figured out how to tweak the video player to stop it from consuming 100% of my computer’s resources.

This was might be the most nerve-wracking 11-3 win I have ever watched, but I am not complaining. I can’t think of many pitchers I enjoy seeing the Sox tee off on more than Garza.

Lucky or not, I am hoping Lackey can find something positive from this start to build on. And hoping the Sox will take advantage of this next stretch to get healthy and gain some ground.

Baseball is reassuring. It makes me feel as if the world is not going to blow up. ~Sharon Olds, This Sporting Life, 1987

by lazyblue on May 26, 2010 11:41 PM EDT reply actions

YO ADRIAN!

I take back every bad thing I ever said about you! I want to keep you on this team forever for the simple fact that you kill Matt Garza.

Sodomize Intolerance

by sonicdeathmonkey on May 26, 2010 11:53 PM EDT reply actions

And down goes Garza. Sweep!

by went9 on May 27, 2010 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

DANIEL BARD THREW ME A BALL!!!!

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by bestbostonsports on May 27, 2010 12:11 AM EDT reply actions

Awesome

USG

by Ben Buchanan on May 27, 2010 12:12 AM EDT up reply actions

It was soooooo awesome. I totally freaked out.

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by bestbostonsports on May 27, 2010 12:16 AM EDT up reply actions

By the way, on the back of the sweep

You are now required to follow the team around the country attending every game.

USG

by Ben Buchanan on May 27, 2010 12:13 AM EDT up reply actions

I wish I could, haha. I went to Baltimore last year when They swept. I’m going back to Boston Tuesday, so I’ll be at Fenway a bit.

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by bestbostonsports on May 27, 2010 12:15 AM EDT up reply actions

lol MDC was supposedly trading cowbells for balls!

by cheekmeister on May 27, 2010 12:13 AM EDT up reply actions

I got one from him last night but this was BARD!

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by bestbostonsports on May 27, 2010 12:16 AM EDT up reply actions

Time to follow this sweep up with a 4 game sweep

Nice to cut into a 8.5 game deficit like this. Now its time to continue on our path of destruction.

by totheights on May 27, 2010 12:44 AM EDT reply actions

Good to see our run differential on the positive side

and climbing at +18 with 5.25 runs score/game. So much work still to do but 6 games over .500 is going in the right direction. Let’s hope for some health to follow us on this homestand.

by went9 on May 27, 2010 1:32 AM EDT reply actions

April vs May to date.

April Sox
RS/game 4.48
RA/game 5.17
May Sox
RS/game 5.96
RA/game 4.60

April W/L 11-12 .478
May. W/L 16-9., .640

Really like the .640 clip in May and finishing the month with 4 against KC at home.
We’ve scored 252 runs in 2010 on pace to score 851 for the year.

by went9 on May 27, 2010 2:18 AM EDT reply actions

Some other splits

Team ERA:

Apr: 4.61
May: 4.29

Team OPS (MLB avg):

Apr: 0.767 (0.736)
May: 0.701 (0.729, 3rd in AL)

Team WHIP:

Apr: 1.44 (1.38)
May: 1.29 (1.36, 4th in AL)

Team BAA:

Apr: .262 (.256, 18th in MLB)
May: .233 (.259, 2nd in AL, 3rd in MLB)

Fenway: "An alternate and better universe, disguised as a ballpark." --Thomas Boswell

by lone1c on May 27, 2010 8:51 AM EDT up reply actions

Also, looking at unearned runs

Those are way down, too. So it looks like a classic case of “A Tale of Two Teams.”

Fenway: "An alternate and better universe, disguised as a ballpark." --Thomas Boswell

by lone1c on May 27, 2010 8:53 AM EDT up reply actions

that's OPS against right?

cuz if that’s been the Red Sox OPS in May, I’ll be shocked.

by wolf9309 on May 27, 2010 10:24 AM EDT up reply actions

Er, yes it is. OPSA.

I had meant to state that these were all pitching stats. . . .

Fenway: "An alternate and better universe, disguised as a ballpark." --Thomas Boswell

by lone1c on May 27, 2010 11:01 AM EDT up reply actions

For what it's worth

BOS OPS, April: .759, good for 12th place
BOS OPS, May: .830, good for 1st place by 39 points (!) over TOR.

Fenway: "An alternate and better universe, disguised as a ballpark." --Thomas Boswell

by lone1c on May 27, 2010 11:04 AM EDT up reply actions

Just wanted to point out

almost everybody here was blaming Beltre early on. Some even wanted him replaced by Lowell. I always defended the guy. Beltre you rock sir!!! 3rd best position player behing Youk and Pedroia!

by German Red Sox Fan on May 27, 2010 4:29 AM EDT reply actions