The Red Sox blew out the Indians Saturday afternoon 14-1 to salvage a series tie in Cleveland.
The runs started immediately off of Corey Kluber, as Carl Crawford doubled, Dustin Pedroia knocked him home, and Adrian Gonzalez hit a high fly ball that just kept carrying out to right field and into the stands for a two-run shot.
Jon Lester seemed ready to have another one of his disastrous firsts after giving up back-to-back singles to start the inning, and while a sacrifice fly would bring one home, the southpaw managed to avoid any further harm in the first.
From there, Lester was dominant. Two strikeouts around a walk earned him a scoreless second, three more surrounded a single in the third, and Lester made it to seven in total after a 1-2-3 fourth. Meanwhile, the Sox had continued to work on Kluber, pushing across two more in the second on Carl Crawford's second double of the night and grabbing a sixth run and chasing Kluber from the game in the fourth.
Any lingering chances Cleveland had would come to a complete end in the fifth. The first five batters of the inning would reach against Josh Tomlin with singles and walks, scoring two and loading the bases. Danny Valencia would make it 9-1 with a sacrifice fly, and Kelly Shoppach gave Tomlin his second out of the frame with a strikeout, but then the doubles started. Jacoby Ellsbury went to the wall, Carl Crawford found the gap in right for his third double, and after a Dustin Pedroia walk, Adrian Gonzalez knocked in the seventh and eighth runs of the night, leaving the Sox ahead 14-1.
Jon Lester would finish his night in style, striking out the side in order in the bottom of the fifth and then getting up to twelve strikeouts in a scoreless sixth inning. The Sox would bring in the reserves to finish the blowout, with neither side adding to their totals in the last four innings.
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