One night after putting up sixteen runs on the Jays, Boston slammed four homers en route to a fourteen run performance against the Blue Jays, sweeping the Blue Birds in Toronto.
My question is: at what point does this become excessive?
It's one thing for a baseball team to put up a double digit game every now and then, but this is three times in five games!
Adrian Gonzalez homered in the first, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz launched multi-run homers in the fifth, and Kevin Youkilis hit his own bomb in the ninth. Jarrod Saltalamacchia reached base four times, and Jacoby Ellsbury three. Of the Red Sox' starters, only J.D. Drew came up empty, going 0-for-5 with four strikeouts.
Meanwhile, Jon Lester was everything the Blue Jays' pitchers were not. Using just 28 pitches to get through the first three innings, Lester ran into his only real trouble in the fourth inning, as he offered up Jose Bautista's 21st home run of the season on a 2-2 fastball. It brought the Blue Jays within two runs at 3-1, and then the Red Sox immediately put up six in the top of the fifth.
Other than that, his only problem was Edwin Encarnacion, who hit a ground ball single and walked in the eighth inning. That was the sum total of Toronto's offense Sunday against Lester: one run, three baseruneers. Lester responded by inducing 11 swinging strikes and sitting down eight men by way of the K. It was dominance, pure and simple.
While they might not want it as hot as they are right now, the Red Sox will get a day off as they head down to St. Pete. The Rays are one of the few teams that the Sox haven't taken out yet this season. Hopefully they'll change that on Tuesday.