Adrian Gonzalez was 3-for-4 with a solo home run as the Boston Red Sox cruised past the Milwaukee Brewers, 10-4, in the series opener on Friday night at Fenway Park.
Despite the win, the Red Sox were dealt two major setbacks when they lost both Carl Crawford and Kevin Youkilis throughout the course of the night. Crawford left the game with a Grade 1 hamstring strain while running out an infield single. Youkilis, who became ill in the fifth inning, left the game and was replaced by Drew Sutton.
John Lackey struggled in the early going, giving up four runs through the first three innings. Casey McGehee singled to center, scoring Nyjer Morgan and Prince Fielder to give Milwaukee a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
Fielder singled to right in the third inning bringing Rickie Weeks around to score and advancing Morgan to third. McGehee grounded into a double-play, plating Morgan to give the Brewers a 4-2 lead.
Lackey gave up eight hits but didn't walk a single batter while striking out five over eight innings.
Boston scored two runs in the first and second innings. Jacoby Ellsbury hit a leadoff home run in the first and David Ortiz hit a double to right field that brought Gonzalez around to score. Youkilis hit a two-run single in the second inning.
After surrendering two runs in the third inning, the Red Sox buckled down and scored six runs in the final six innings. Gonzalez hit his solo home run in the fifth inning, a 389-foot shot to left. Jason Varitek slapped an RBI-double to center and Dustin Pedroia had an RBI-single in the sixth inning.
Darnell McDonald grounded into a double play, allowing Sutton to score, and J.D. Drew had a two-run single to center in the seventh inning to cap off the scoring for Boston. Matt Albers pitched a clean ninth for the Red Sox, striking out two.
Shawn Marcum started the game on the mound for Milwaukee, but left after one inning after suffering a strained left hip flexor. Marcum surrendered two earned runs on four hits and one walk while striking out one batter.
Marco Estrada was the losing pitcher for the Brewers, giving up three earned runs and tow walks on four hits in four innings for Milwaukee,.
Boston hosts Milwaukee in the middle game of the series on Saturday night.
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