Big Fourth Inning and Dingers Finally Give Bedard a Win

Entering the fourth inning, the Red Sox trailed the Rangers 3-1. Thirteen batters, eight runs and three outs later the game was out of reach. Boston got to Texas starter Colby Lewis for four runs, chasing him early in the fourth inning one batter after a home run by Jarrod Saltalamacchia tied the game.

The new Ranger pitcher Yoshinori Tateyama threw a wild pitch to Adrian Gonzalez, convincing Ron Washington to call for the intentional walk, then did the same with David Ortiz at the plate and again issued the intentional walk. The two free passes turned out to be a poor gamble. Pitch hitting for Jed Lowrie (who left the game with soreness in his shoulder), Mike Aviles drove in one run on an opposite field single. Carl Crawford then delivered in a major way, hitting a grand slam over the bullpen area. Before the inning came to an end the Sox would get another run on a Jacoby Ellsbury infield single which scored Josh Reddick.

Reddick had a big day at the plate with four hits and three runs scored. Dustin Pedroia continued to haunt American League pitchers, with two hits and 3 RBI’s, blasting a long double to the same area of center he homered to yesterday. If this game is any indication, Ron Washington will probably add Pedey to his ever-growing intentionally walk list. In his first game back from the DL, Kevin Youkilis failed to get a hit, making him the only Red Sox starter not to get one.

As it turned out, the Red Sox would need all that offense-  

Erik Bedard pitched well for Boston striking out six and giving up five hits and three runs over six innings. It was good enough to earn him his first win as a Red Sox, though the Sox could have used a little longer outing today. Bedard had some control issues early on, walking the first two hitters in the third and giving four free passes total, but he improved as the game went on, finding his best stuff after the Sox took the commanding lead. Boston’s bullpen did not fair as well. Dan Wheeler ran into trouble in his second inning of work giving up three runs in the eighth and Franklin Morales bailed him out, but Estaban German got to him in ninth with a solo home run.  

The Red Sox have John Lackey going against Matt Harrison in the rubber match tomorrow, so who knows…