Red Sox 11, Rockies 4: Sox demolish Rox with 20-hit attack

Generally speaking, 20 hits are usually enough to get the job done. That proved out Tuesday night as the Red Sox knocked the Rockies around (but officially not out of) the park en route to an 11-4 win.

The Rockies were the first to threaten, putting their first two batters of the game on base against Ryan Dempster. The veteran righty didn't let a questionable walk and a successful bunt rattle him, however, getting a pop-up from Carlos Gonzalez to keep the runners at first and second, then inducing a ground ball off the bat of Michael Cuddyer to finish the escape act with a double play.

Then came the Red Sox, who did rather more than threaten. Jacoby Ellsbury started the game with a sharply-hit ground ball into left, making his way to second base, moving to third on a Shane Victorino bunt, and scoring when Dustin Pedroia slapped a hit into right to make it 1-0. A pair of walks would follow, loading the bases for Daniel Nava, who flipped a bloop hit into left to make it 2-0 against Juan Nicasio.

The Sox would leave the bases loaded in the first, and when Willin Rosario crushed a solo shot off of Dempster in the second inning it looked like that may come back to haunt them. From there, though, it was all Red Sox. A two-out rally in the second inning extended the frame for an extra five batters, with batters two-through-six all picking up hits, bringing an additional three runs in to score.

The Sox plated two more with four straight singles in the third (including a bizarre base knock from Jacoby Ellsbury on a pitch that was so low his bat ended up catching dirt), chasing Nicasio, and another in the fourth when what should have been ruled a homer for Stephen Drew to dead center was instead called a triple, with Jose Iglesias erasing the damage by doubling to the wall in left behind him.

Perhaps a bit lax with the lead at 8-2 headed to the seventh, some shaky defense from Shane Victorino, who crashed into yet another wall, allowed the Rockies to get two runs back against the bullpen. The Sox tacked on two more in the seventh, however, and from there it was relatively smooth sailing.

A strong start from Ryan Dempster, three hits from Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, and Jose Iglesias, and 20 in total, with only Jarrod Saltalamacchia and David Ortiz (who drew three walks) failing to pick up multiples. There's little to complain about on nights like this one.

Read more Red Sox:

• Farrell: Red Sox "better team" with Jose Iglesias at third base
• The Kevin Youkilis trade, one year later
• Shane Victorino providing value in multiple ways
• Ryan Dempster: The model of stability
• Solving the Red Sox closer problem