The Red Sox will start their West Coast trip with a three-game set against the Angels. We'll keep you up-to-date on all the action as it goes down in Anaheim.
Red Sox 5, Angels 4, End 8th -- Alfredo Aceves enters in what has been unfamiliar territory of late, but retires the side in the eighth inning to bring the Sox within three outs of victory.
Red Sox 5, Angels 4, Mid 8th -- No insurance for the Sox in the 8th despite a Ryan Lavarnway double that, a few yards to the left, would have found a part of the outfield fence with a much shorter wall.James Loney walks behind him, but Jarrod Saltalamacchia struck out to end the inning.
Red Sox 5, Angels 4, End 7th -- Ryan Lavarnway makes the play of the game to get the Red Sox a much-needed out in the seventh. With Mike Trout doubling off Buchholz to give the Angels a runner in scoring position with one out, Torii Hunter attempted to lay down a bunt, but had it bounce harmlessly off his bat, barely up in the air and off towards the first base side. While most times this would just be a harmless foul, Lavarnway doffed his mask and dove to his right all in one motion, making the grab to record the second out. With Albert Pujols flying out behind him, the lead was preserved.
Red Sox 5, Angels 4, Mid 7th -- Pedro Ciriaco gets a hit, but it comes with two outs and the Red Sox do no more in the inning.
Red Sox 5, Angels 4, End 6th -- From dominance to near-meltdown, Clay just barely preserves the lead in the fourth. An Albert Pujols homer ends up in about the same place as Mike Trout's did in the first, and a walk and double prove good for a fourth run. Buchholz manages to get out of the inning with a ground ball to first, but much of the good work against Weaver has gone to waste now.
Red Sox 5, Angels 2, Mid 6th -- Jacoby Ellsbury wreaks havoc on the basepaths after a leadoff single, stealing second and advancing to third on an errant throw into center field to set up Ryan Lavarnway for a sacrifice fly behind him to extend the lead to three runs.
Red Sox 4, Angels 2, End 5th -- Another clean inning makes it 10 straight batters retired since a Chris Iannetta single in the second.
Red Sox 4, Angels 2, Mid 5th -- The outfield helps Weaver recover from his rough fourth inning by doing some work for him in the fifth. Mike Trout comes in to make a diving grab and rob Pedro Ciriaco of a leadoff hit, and Mark Trumbo handle the next two outs, tracking back to the wall to get Podsednik and staying in his tracks to glove a line drive from Dustin Pedroia.
Red Sox 4, Angels 2, End 4th -- Clay Buchholz is rolling now, giving up nothing in the way of strong contact and getting a pop-up, ground out, and strikeout to end the fourth in rapid fashion.
Red Sox 4, Angels 2, Mid 4th -- In one of the more shocking events in baseball tonight, the Red Sox lineup which could be mistaken at first glance for a minor league team establishes a conga line on Jered Weaver. Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury get it started with base hits, and Ryan Lavarnway draws a walk to load the bases. James Loney and Jarrod Saltalamacchia both come through with singles, scoring one run a piece and reloading the bases, and while Ryan Kalish grounds into a double play, a fourth run comes in the back door and the Sox take a 4-2 lead.
Angels 2, Red Sox 1, End 3rd -- Clay Buchholz grabs that elusive 1-2-3 frame in the third, striking out Torii Hunter and getting a pair of ground balls. With James Loney, Dustin Pedroia, Jose Iglesias, and Pedro Ciriaco manning the infield, those grounders should be valuable tonight.
Angels 2, Red Sox 1, Mid 3rd -- The bottom of the order looks like the bottom of the order, with Jose Iglesias managing to get out so quickly that the TV camera's aren't even around to see it.
Angels 2, Red Sox 1, End 2nd -- A ground ball up the middle keeps Clay Buchholz from picking up the clean inning, but he does get Mike Trout with a called strike three to end it immediately after.
Angels 2, Red Sox 1, Mid 2nd -- With Jarrod Saltalamacchia at the plate, you can be pretty sure you're either going to get a strikeout or a home run. The Red Sox will count themselves lucky that it was the latter this time, with Salty golfing at a curveball that stayed just too high and depositing it in the right field stands to cut the deficit to one.
Angels 2, Red Sox 0, End 1st -- And the Red Sox get just about the last thing they need: concerns for Clay Buchholz. After being hammered by the Angels in his last outing, Buchholz once again feels the wrath of Los Angeles in the first inning. Mike Trout jumped all over just the second pitch of his outing for a long home run to left-center, and before Buchholz could even get his first out the Angels had first and third on a walk and single. Buchholz was able to settle down from there, holding the Angels to just a sacrifice fly, but it's an ugly bit of work to start the game for a guy the team is depending on going into 2013.
Red Sox 0, Angels 0, Mid 1st -- On a night where the Red Sox lineup is all of about three deep, the team starts the game with a 1-2-3 first. Dustin Pedroia goes down on an unchecked swing at a pitch that may have caught the strike zone anyways, honestly, and Jacoby Ellsbury gets good wood on the ball, but can only hit a fly ball to right-center for the third out.