For four innings, Philip Humber was mostly untouchable.
Unfortunately for the Chicago White Sox, they play nine innings. And by the end of nine innings, it was Boston that prevailed over Chicago for the first time all season, winning 10-2.
The Red Sox attack went to work in the fifth inning, with Carl Crawford reaching first, stealing second and advancing to third on an error by second baseman Gordon Beckham. Jarrod Saltalamacchia doubled Crawford home and Marco Scutaro scored the Boston catcher on a sacrifice fly.
Dustin Pedroia then sacrificed Josh Reddick home and Kevin Youkilis singled in Jacoby Ellsbury to give the Red Sox all the offense they'd need on the night.
Jon Lester pitched eight strong innings, giving up only two solo home runs and needing just 98 pitches to get through eight innings of the second start since his return from the disabled list.
Reddick was the beneficiary of some uncharacteristic poor defense by Chicago in the eighth inning, scoring from first base on a Marco Scutaro single with two outs.
Just for good measure, Boston added five runs in the ninth to make sure the game was in hand. Adrian Gonzalez his his first home run since July 7th and Youkilis followed it up with a shot of his own to the left field bleachers.
With trade rumors swirling around the team, the Red Sox didn't need to worry about who was going where, knowing that their team wasn't going to be involved in any deals that moved their major-league talent, and they were able to focus on the game at hand.
During the game, it was reported that Colorado Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez was being shipped off to Cleveland, before the report was contracted and then confirmed by game's end.
The Red Sox had been high on Jimenez as the relief that their starting rotation so desperately needed, but instead wound up landing Oakland's Rich Harden in a trade that reportedly involved Pawtucket first baseman Lars Anderson and a player to be named later.