"You know what the difference between hitting .250 and .300 is? It’s 25 hits. 25 hits in 500 at-bats is 50 points, okay? There’s six months in a season; that’s about 25 weeks. That means if you get just one extra flare a week – just one – a gork… you get a groundball, you get a “groundball with eyes…” you get a dying quail, just one more dying quail a week… and you’re in Yankee Stadium.– Crash Davis, Bull Durham"
The Boston Red Sox nabbed another come-from-behind victory and put their losing streak further behind them with a 6-3 win in Atlanta on Tuesday night. The Sox utilized some lucky bounces in a four-run seventh inning keyed by a two-run single by Jackie Bradley to pull ahead.
Jon Lester (5-6) had a bumpy ride out of the gate and a number of disagreements with home plate umpire Bob Davidson but managed to give the Sox a quality start. Anthony Varvaro (1-1) took the loss for Atlanta. Koji Uehara pitched a tidy ninth for his 11th save.
The 2-3-4 hitters in the Boston lineup set the stage in the seventh. Xander Bogaerts, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz singled, with Bogaerts scoring on a soft liner off the bat of Big Papi. Hacksaw Jonny Gomes, hitting fifth with John Farrell playing a hunch, plopped one into right field to load the bases, and Grady Sizemore grounded out to score Pedroia.
Braves pitcher Luis Avilan was instructed to pitch around .172 hitter David Ross, which brought up Bradley. The rookie delivered.
Gomes had the intangibles on overdrive as he contributed a brilliant sliding catch in the eighth.
Dustin Pedroia led the way for Boston with three hits. Struggling outfielders Bradley and Grady Sizemore each contributed two hits for the Red Sox, with both stealing a bag.
The Red Sox return to Fenway Park for the second half of the home-and-home set with the Braves tonight at 7:10. John Lackey (5-3, 3.58) looks to keep the winning streak going against Gavin Floyd (0-1, 2.49).