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.