The Red Sox picked up big hits from the heart of the order Wednesday night, riding contributions from David Ortiz, Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Youkilis, and Will Middlebrooks to a 6-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
The game got off to an inauspicious start for the Red Sox, as Jon Lester surrendered a run in the first thanks in part to some poor defending from Mike Aviles, who had a double play ball roll right past him and into the outfield as part of a three-single rally.
Things would just get worse in the third, and this time Lester had nobody to blame but himself. While Marlon Byrd would make an ill-advised leap at the Monster to turn a double into a triple, and then watch another ball sail over his head to the base of the wall in center, Lester gave up big contact to his opposition, and it rightly cost him another pair of runs, with Miguel Cabrera providing a great bit of baserunning to score on a ground out even with the infield in.
Boston had been making some solid contact against Drew Smyly for the first few innings, but only had one hit to show for it. That all changed with two outs in the fourth. Adrian Gonzalez got the late rally started by hitting a ground-rule double to center, bringing David Ortiz to the plate. After missing a few fastballs in his first at bat, he destroyed the first one he saw in his second at bat, taking it out of the park to dead center field to bring the Sox within one. The next two Sox would repeat the act, with Kevin Youkilis lining to center, and Will Middlebrooks launching a rocket shot into and out of the Monster seats for another two runs and the lead.
Lester would settle down until the seventh inning, when he was left in with too many pitches on his arm. After giving up one wall ball which Daniel Nava managed to turn into an out at second, Lester was given a chance to face Gerald Laird, and the result was basically the same, leaving a runner on second for Matt Albers to take care of. While Albers didn't give up much in the way of contact, a dribbler to third and a bloop single which Adrian Gonzalez just missed making a sliding catch on were lucky enough to bring in the tying run.
Gonzo would not wait long to make up for the run, however. In the bottom half of the inning, with two men on and two outs, Gonzalez lifted a long fly ball to right field and into the stands on one bounce, giving the Sox an RBI double which put them back up 5-4. Kevin Youkilis added to the tally quickly in the eighth, launching a solo shot to left to give the Sox an insurance run before Alfredo Aceves closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth, giving Boston the win.
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