Lowrie Walks Off For Red Sox Victory

Hey, Jed Lowrie: have we, Red Sox Nation, told you how much we like having you back yet?

Well we do. And thanks for that.

Jed Lowrie hit a pinch-hit walk-off home run in the 11th inning to give the Red Sox a 5-4 win over Toronto on Saturday night. Lowrie dropped it into the bullpen off of Jays' reliever Casey Janssen to get the job done.

And after Friday night, this was 1,000 percent necessary.

On the mound, Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched pretty well, allowing four runs over eight innings. He walked three, allowed six hits and struck out eight while managing to throw 109 pitches. That's not a lot for Dice-K -- especially when we're talking about eight innings of work.

The Red Sox bullpen was fantastic, too. The two-headed monster of Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon got the work done in relief. Bard allowed one hit and struck out one in two innings, while Papelbon earned the win in his one inning, one strikeout performance.

Other than Lowrie's late-game heroics, the top of the order provided the meat of the offense. Marco Scutaro, J.D. Drew and Victor Martinez -- one, two and three in the lineup -- went a combined 8-for-13 with three runs, three RBI and one walk. Scutaro and Martinez each had three hits.

It's not just nice -- but a requirement -- to get a win like this after the Sox got shellacked on Friday night. Maybe we can forget about that one for now ... maybe.

Now we can all rest easy thanks to a (finally) healthy (and productive) Jed Lowrie.