 |
| Jim Rogash/Getty Images |
Daisuke Matsuzaka had his contractually-mandated lousy first inning, but then (once again) the right-hander buckled down and gave up just one earned run over 5 2/3 innings (lowering his ERA to 4.91). The problems was, The Carmine Hose still trailed
The Birds From The Great White North, 1-0. That is, until Jarrod Saltalamacchia stepped to the plate with two outs in the seventh. Salty lofted an opposite-field fly ball into the Monster Seats to tie the game at one (HR#14). Then, after various Blue Jay relievers loaded the bases, the newly hot Dustin Pedroia drilled a single to center scoring two more. After all was said and done,
the Sox prevailed, 5-1 and reclaimed fourth place (alone) in the AL East. Wednesday afternoon,
they have a chance to achieve what we said they had to achieve way back on June 19th. Specifically, to get back in this race—we said they had to go 7-2 on this 9-game home stand.
