On a night that began with new Bruins acquisitions Tyler Seguin and Nathan Horton throwing out the ceremonial first pitch, the Boston Red Sox went on to impress the newcomers in their first trip to Fenway Park. The Sox exploded for 8 runs after being held in check early by James Shields en route to an 8-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
John Lackey twirled a 7-inning gem for Boston, yielding just 1 run on 8 hits. He got some help from Big Papi, who blasted a first-pitch fastball from James Shields into the right field bleachers with two men on base for his 17th homer of the season. Ortiz continues to quiet his critics from the season's beginning, most of which claimed that he would never regain his former offensive prowess. Despite a relatively low .253 batting average, Ortiz's 17 homers and 50 runs batted in speak for themselves -- we're not even at the half way mark yet.
Adrian Beltre also had a spectacular game, going 4-for-4 to raise his season batting average to a gaudy .349. Just like Ortiz, Beltre has consistently kept his preseason critics quiet with phenomenal hitting all year long. He's been the most consistent anchor in this Red Sox offense since April.
With the win -- and New York's loss to Seattle -- Boston moves to within 1 game of the Yankees for the AL East lead. They stand 2 games ahead of Tampa, with the second game of this two-game set awaiting them tomorrow night.
it was a good game! it shows us the sox wont die! as for Tampa after that perfect game by braden every thing for the rays just went down
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