The Red Sox received seven terrific innings from Josh Beckett Tuesday afternoon as they shut the Seattle Mariners out 5-0 for their fifth straight win.
Taking the mound for the first time since his disastrous outing against the Indians left him persona non grata in Fenway, Beckett did his best to earn redemption against the Mariners. Mimicing Jon Lester's start from the night before, Beckett would record three perfect innings to start the game, striking out six batters in the process before an infield single off the bat of Dustin Ackley broke it up.
The Sox would pick up their first run in the bottom of the third after building up Blake Beavan's pitch count earlier when David Ortiz hit his eighth homer of the year on a long fly ball into the bullpen in right field. They would tack on two more in the fourth when Mike Aviles doubled into right field and Ryan Sweeney hit an RBI ground out to score Cody Ross and Mike Aviles from third, respectively.
With Beavan now out of the game, the Sox would make it 4-0 in the fifth thanks to some unusual play from David Ortiz, who bunted to an open left side, reached second on a double play attempt which saw the shortstop Munenori Kawasaki stray too far from second to earn the neighborhood call, and then scored on a Will Middlebrooks wall ball single.
Beckett, meanwhile, though no longer perfect, was still quite strong. He would pitch through the end of the seventh, striking out nine batters and allowing just six baserunners before Bobby Valentine turned to a rested bullpen on a rainy day. While they had some wiggle room to work with, the Sox relievers would have no need for it, with Rich Hill and Alfredo Aceves each recording 1-2-3 innings to end the game and secure the short sweep.