Gonzalez, Red Sox Overpower Brewers, 10-4 Despite Some Early Injuries

After finishing up an impressive road stand, the Red Sox returned to Fenway Park Friday night as they opened up some weekend interleague play with the Milwaukee Brewers.  Tonight the Boston offense really had it going, compiling 10 runs on 14 total hits as they defeated the Brewers, 10-4.  Despite the offensive success, the Red Sox lost a couple of key players early to injury.

While running down the first base line in the bottom of the first inning, Carl Crawford sustained a grade one strain on his left hamstring while beating out an infield hit.  Crawford was in a lot of pain and had to be taken out for Darnell McDonald.  While we still don't know at this point how he is feeling, Crawford's strain in a grade one, the least serious type of strain.  We will update you when more information becomes available.

The Sox also had to do without Kevin Youkilis after the fifth inning, when he was lifted mysteriously in favor of Drew Sutton at third.  We later found out that Youkilis was just battling a minor stomach bug, so it's likely he'll be back in the lineup tomorrow.  Before his exit, he did contribute to the big offensive outburst tonight.

The Brewers sent out former Blue Jay Shaun Marcum to face the Red Sox, however he didn't stick around for long because of injury.  He did however stay in long enough to give up a lead off home run to Jacoby Ellsbury in the bottom of the first innings.  Marcum then gave up an RBI double to David Ortiz that scored Adrian Gonzalez all the way from first.

Marco Estrada, who replaced Marcum was also touched up pretty good in the second inning.  After a Gonzalez double, Estrada gave up an RBI single to Youkilis with two out.  He did however settle down.  Estrada worked his way through the third and fourth innings with no trouble at all, until he faced Adrian Gonzalez for a second time.  In the fifth inning, Gonzalez crushed a solo home run that just made it over the green monster that ultimately opened up the flood gates.

Estrada quickly departed and enter Daniel Ray Herrera and later Tim Dillard for Milwaukee.  The two combined were responsible for six more Boston runs.  Herrera gave up an RBI double to Jason Varitek and an RBI single to Dustin Pedroia in the sixth innings.  Later, Dillard was charged with an unearned run after Craig Counsell misplayed a ball at short that allowed Drew Sutton to cross the plate.  Dillard then gave up an RBI single to J.D. Drew, allowing the tenth Boston run to cross the plate.

Now, find out how John Lackey faired after the jump!

Lackey was given the assignment of containing one of the most dangerous offenses in the National League in the Brewers with the addition of a designated hitter.  He ran into trouble pretty early, but actually recorded another solid outing for the Red Sox.

As he has done in the past, Lackey had some trouble in the early going.  After allowing a ground-rule double to Prince Fielder, Lackey allowed an RBI single to Casey McGehee that plated Nyjer Morgan from third and big Prince from second.  After having a pretty nice second inning, Lackey ran into some more trouble in the third when he allowed two more runners to cross the plate via a Fielder RBI single and a McGehee fielders choice.  After that, Lackey settled in quite nicely.

After his somewhat turbulent third inning, Lackey retired 16 Brewers in a row, not allowing a single hit the rest of the way.  Lackey finished with a line of eight innings of work with four earned runs charged on eight hits while striking out five and not walking a single Brewer.  While it couldn't hold a candle to Josh Beckett's recent outing, it does show that Lackey is slowly becoming a decent and sometimes solid pitcher for the Red Sox.