In years past, a 14-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians would have been a nice result, but nothing to get too excited over. On Wednesday, the Red Sox put an absolute shellacking on the Indians, but this isn’t an Indians team of years past. They sit with the best record in baseball at 30-17 and having been playing well in all facets of the game. This is the same team that swept the reeling Red Sox during the first week of the season, so to nearly sweep and take 2 out of 3 in Cleveland this week is a big accomplishment. Beyond the wins and losses column on the stat sheet, the Red Sox got significant contributions from some struggling players and now find themselves in a close race for the top spot in the AL East.
There were a lot of different headlines to come out of the 14-2 victory on Wednesday for the Red Sox, some predictable and others a bit surprising. In the not-surprising category was Jon Lester, who threw 6 shutout innings with 7 Ks and just 3 hits, improving his season ERA to 3.36 and his record to an impressive 7-1. The surprising and refreshing headlines surround Carl Crawford and Jarrod Saltalamacchia and their offensive explosion. Crawford was 4 for 4 on Wednesday, with a home run (3rd on the season and 2nd this week) and 2 doubles, scoring 3 runs and collecting 2 RBIs, raising his season average to .229. Salty has been on fire lately, hitting like many had hoped in the spring. He continued that success with a 2 for 4 afternoon, including a 3-run home run.
Overall, the Indians series was a great opportunity for the Red Sox to gauge their progress on the young season. They got outplayed in April, but outplayed the Indians in May and are rolling now. The Sox turn around for another day game in Detroit on Thursday to start a 4-game set with the 2nd place Tigers. They sit just 0.5 games behind the Yankees in 2nd place in the AL East and have a 1 game edge on the Tampa Bay Rays in 3rd place. Things are looking up for the Red Sox.
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