Offense Comes Up Lame As Sox Drop Series To Angels
By Conor Duffy
After Saturday night’s horrible 9-7 loss to the Angels, last night’s 3-0 loss seemed worse than it was. After a realistic scoring chance in the first, the Red Sox just never really got anything going offensively. We got to see an excellent pitching duel out of John Lackey (6-5, 2.81) and Jered Weaver (2-4, 3.89), a matchup of former teammates with the Angels. All in all, the game was not too bad but the series could have gone in a much different direction following saturday night’s game.
The Red Sox bats came up big early on as Jacoby Ellsbury led the game off with a hard double misplayed by J.B. Shuck in left field. Daniel Nava followed him with a soft single to put runners at first and third with no outs; however, the Red Sox were essentially done after that. Dustin Pedroia hit a hard line drive right at the third baseman, then David Ortiz and Mike Napoli each struck out to keep it at 0-0, though it could have been so much more.
Jul 2, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox pitcher John Lackey (41) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the San Diego Padres at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
The Angels also started off quickly; however, they actually got something done. With one out and nobody on in the inning, Mike Trout drove a fastball to right field for an opposite field home run to start things off and make it 1-0. That was just a mere blemish on an otherwise strong night for John Lackey. Lackey allowed one more run in the ballgame on a long home run by Hank Conger, but that was all. He finished his night with a respectable 7 innings pitched, allowing 2 earned runs on 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 9 batters.
Lackey was replaced by Junichi Tazawa, who pitched the eighth, allowing the Angels one more run in the process. An Erick Aybar triple and Mark Trumbo sacrifice fly were enough to add on one more insurance run and really put the Angels over the top to 3-0. Ernesto Friero came on and shut the Red Sox down, as the Angels won the game and the series.