Red Sox Vs. Marlins Final: Sox Lineup Wakes Up In 10-2 Rout Of Marlins

The Red Sox took the rubber match in their series against the Marlins in a 10-2 rout as they took advantage of their first opportunity against a second-tier starter in nearly a week.

After going up against Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmermann, Josh Johnson, and Mark Buehrle in five consecutive games, Ricky Nolasco must have seemed the light at the end of the tunnel to a hit-starved Red Sox lineup. Through the first two innings of the game, however, the Sox had managed just one baserunner, looking as helpless as ever at the plate.

That would finally change in the third, as the Sox got on the board with some NL smallball with Felix Doubront bunting Mike Aviles to third with no outs on the board and Scott Podsednik bringing him in with a simple ground ball to second. They would strike again in the fourth, when David Ortiz received a fastball waist-high over the outside part of the plate and went deep to the opposite field to make it 2-0.

Felix Doubront, meanwhile, was enjoying a very special start, having made it through the end of the fifth with one walk...and nothing else. A missed location on a fastball to Jose Reyes let the Miami shortstop go deep, ending both the no-hitter and the shutout in one fell swoop. Doubront would then allow two men reach scoring position to start the seventh, but managed to escape the inning with just one earned run by inducing a pop-up, ground ball, and fly ball.

The run would have tied the game had the Sox not already put up two more runs in the top of the sixth by hitting three straight singles off of Nolasco to start the inning. Four runs was more than they had scored off a starter in those five previous games, but that would pale in comparison to the production they would manage in the top of the eighth. Chad Gaudin would allow Nick Punto to lead off the inning with a double, and then was quickly pulled in favor of Randy Choate, who let the game get completely away from him. Four straight singles would bring in three runs, and while Ryan Webb would finally manage to get two outs, a sacrifice fly would bring in a fourth, Mike Aviles loaded the bases with a single, and then Nick Punto struck again for two more runs, leaving the score at an insurmountable 10-2.