The Red Sox defeated the Mariners 5-0 thanks to an amazing start from Aaron Cook and four homers against Hector Noesi.
The match got underway at a rapid pace, with two 1-2-3 innings going by in just twenty minutes. The difference was how the outs were coming. Where Aaron Cook was getting groundouts--his bread and butter--Noesi was living on line drives and long fly balls that found gloves. It was not the kind of performance that was sustainable, and in the fifth, the Red Sox showed why.
With the game entering the inning in a scoreless tie, the Sox did not waste any more time in finally breaking through against Noesi. Will Middlebrooks started the carnage by taking a slider that didn't quite break enough and hooking it into the left field stands for a solo shot. Four pitches later, and Noesi delivered a fastball over the middle of the plate to Cody Ross. Bad idea. Cody put his traditional swing on the ball, and found the upper decks to make it 2-0. The next two outs came quickly enough, but then it was Daniel Nava, showing quick wrists and slapping a line drive over the right field wall for the third bomb of the inning.
The sixth didn't go much better for Noesi. A double to Ortiz was followed quickly by Jarrod Saltalamacchia hitting a two-run shot to left-center, leaving the Sox up by five. An Adrian Gonzalez single would chase Noesi from the game, bringing in the Seattle bullpen, which managed to hold the Sox down for the rest of the game.
Their performance would go unrewarded, however, because Aaron Cook wasn't about to let up. The Mariners would grab only two more baserunners on the night--one on a Mike Aviles error, and another on a John Jaso ground ball single that was followed up by a double play not long after. All-in-all, Cook needed just 81 pitches to close out his complete game shutout, putting the Sox back up to five games over .500.
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