The Red Sox have closed the gap to just three runs after the seventh inning, scoring a trio of runs in the frame.
While Michael Bowden has helped stabilize things on the mound, he did give up a solo home run to Eric Thames in the seventh, wasting some of the gains the Sox had made in the first half.
Those came thanks to the extreme ends of the lineup. Jason Varitek walked and Darnell McDonald singled to give Jacoby Ellsbury an RBI opportunity that the MVP candidate would not waste, doubling down the line in left to bring Jason Varitek home. Marco Scutaro would take a ball on the first pitch of his at bat, and then follow Ellsbury up with a single through the hole between second and third, bringing around two more runs to score to make it, at the time, 5-3.
The Sox are on the board now, but running low on chances. The game is winnable, but it hardly seems likely to happen.