This is a game Boston has to win; they have now fallen 2.5 games behind the Yankees that it is the wildcard playoff position they are now playing for. Pitching match-ups favour the Red Sox with 14 win Lester against Perez 3-2. Question remains for the Jays is Perez a starter or long relief? We saw how the experiment with Villanueva went wrong. Will McGowan finally get a chance to pitch tonight? Tomorrow the call-ups in the dugout.
Line-ups: Red Sox: Ellsbury, Pedroia, Gonzalez, Youkilis, Ortiz, Scutaro, Crawford, Saltalamacchia, and Lester pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Thames, Bautista, Lind, Encarnacion, Johnson, Lawrie, Arencibia, McCoy and Perez pitching.
Top 1st: Ellsbury 2-2 count, doubles to Thames in left. Pedroia full count, strikes out. One down one on for Gonzalez, pops it up into shallow left Lawrie turns and throw only just misses Elsbury double to Gonzalez. Boston 1-0 off and running early tonight. Youkilis full count, ball four, two on one down for Ortiz. Oh boy, wild pitch, Gonzalez to third, Youkilis to second. Not good. Ortiz singles to right, past a diving Johnson, here comes Gonzalez, 2-0 Boston. Youkilis to third. Scutaro, full count, singles to Thames in left, Youkilis scores, 3-0 Boston. 30 pitches already for Perez. Bruce Walton out there. This is the first inning guys. Crawford, doubles past a diving Lind, to Bautista in right, here comes Ortiz 4-0 Boston, Scutaro to third. Still only one out. Saltalamacchia grounds back to Perez, throw to Lind for the second out. Runners hold. Red Sox bat around, McDonald, grounds to Lawrie throw to Lind at first but Perez has a deep hole already and with Lester pitching, good luck.
Bottom 1st: Escobar back in the line-up, singles to right. That’s the way to start. Thames pops it up very high to Youkilis at third, one down for Bautista, strikes out swinging. Horrible swing there Jose. Lind grounds to Youkilis at third throw to Gonzalez at first.
Top 2nd: Ellsbury 3-1 count, ball four, leadoff walk. Pedroia, wild pitch, Ellsbury to second. Pedroia 2-2 count, grounds to Lawrie throw to Lind, one down, Ellsbury to third. Gonzalez singles to centre, here comes Ellsbury, 5-0 Boston. Youkilis lines to McCoy in centre, Gonzalez coming home, Johnson throw to the plate not in time Arencibia throws to Lawrie, Youkilis in a rundown and Lawrie tags him out. 6-0 Boston. Two down for Ortiz fly ball to Thames in left for third out. This game could be over already for the Jays.
Bottom 2nd: Jays even further behind now, Boston has finally found their bats. Encarnacion full count, strikes out. Johnson full count, takes strike three. Lawrie 3-0 and walks on four pitches, great discipline there by Lawrie as Lester was pounding them inside and he refuse to swing at them. Arencibia, two down one on, Lawrie going and thro gets away into centre, but that was a strikeout I think Lester might have this one buttoned down.
Top 3rd: Scutaro doubles to centre. Crawford grounds to Lind, takes it himself for the out, Scutaro to third. Saltalamacchia hammers this one to centre, over a leaping McCoy and the centre field fence, here comes Scutaro and here comes Saltalamacchia, Boston 8-0 and this is still only the 3rd inning. Not sure why Perez is still out there. This is ugly. McDonald singles past a diving Escobar to McCoy in centre. Rommie Lewis warming up in Jays bullpen. Ellsbury grounds back to Perez, throw to Lind, McDonald to second. Pedroia lines it to third, off the glove of Lawrie error to Lawrie, Pedroia safe at first. McDonald to third. That is it for Perez, he had nothing at all tonight. Rommie Lewis now pitching. Gonzalez 2-2 count strikes out swinging but Jays are in impossible situation here.
Bottom 3rd: McCoy strikes out on three pitches, hurry back Rasmus. One down for Escobar, singles first pitch to right. 2-2 tonight. There’s a great sight. Dustin McGowan warming up in the Jays bullpen in Toronto, after three long years. No one gave him any hope of coming back. Thames fly ball to right for McDonald to make the catch. Two down. Bautista, pops it up to Gonzalez at first. Three up and down for the Jays. No hustle or heart there.
Top 4th: Rommie Lewis still pitching. Youkilis grounds to Lawrie, great save but throw off the glove of Lind. Ortiz, full count, lines to centre off the wall, Ortiz thought that was a home run and ambled out of the box, here comes Youkilis 9-0 Boston. Ortiz stand up double. Scutaro another liner to centre, here comes Ortiz 10-0 Boston still nobody out. Crawford, strikes out, some Bronx cheers here. Saltalamacchia strikes out. Two down for McDonald, looper to right centre, Bautista dives for the catch but off his glove, that would have been a highlight reel catch but no tonight. here comes Scutaro, 11-0 Boston. Ellsbury singles to McCoy in centre McDonald to second. Pedroia full count, lines out to Lawrie at third to end another nightmare inning. Red Sox now with 15 hits.
Bottom 4th: Lind, strikes out. One down. Encarnacion strikes out. Johnson fly ball to McDonald in right. Three up and down.Lester on 58 pitches.
Top 5th: This is what we have been waiting for a very long time, three years in fact. Dustin McGowan is back and that is the news tonight. Great ovation from the fans. Gonzalez singles to left. Youkilis fly ball to McCoy in centre, one down. Ortiz doubles off the wall in centre, Gonzalez to third. Two in scoring position, one down for Scutaro lines it into the left field corner, two more score, 13-0. Crawford, full count, strikes out swinging, two down. Grounds to Johnson, throw to Lind for third out. Looking good. Great outing Dustin. 15 pitches. 10 strikes five balls. He will remember that inning for a very long time.
Bottom 5th: Lawrie leading off. Strikes out swinging. One down for Arencibia, grounds to short, Scutaro throw not in time and Arencibia safe at first. McCoy wild pitch and Arencibia to second. 2-2 count grounds to third throw to first two down as Arencibia to third. Escobar, 2-2 tonight. Can he hit when it counts? No, strikes out swinging leaving Arencibia at third. Not a great at bat Yunel.
Top 6th: McGowan out again. McDonald leading off. VERY nice strikes out swinging, great pitches Dustin had him swinging and missing by feet. McGowan overpowered him. Ellsbury, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging on three pitches. Back to back strikeouts. Pedroia, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind for third out. Three up and down. Not bad from a guy who has not pitched in three years. Red Sox will not be too happy with that inning. 25 pitch count 18-7, great ratio.
Bottom 6th: Thames, pops it up to left, makes a running catch. Bautista hitless tonight, and having rough series so far. Grounds to third, Youkilis fumbles the ball and throw not in time as Bautista safe at first. Finally a hit for Bautista. Error to Youkilis. Wise now pinch running for Jose. Farrell waving the white flag. Too bad. Lind, 2-0 count, grounds to Youkilis at third, throw to first, two down Wise to second. Encarnacion, grounds to Scutaro, throw to first for the out.
Top 7th: McGowan out there again. The blowout is perfect for him as he can relax and just pitch with no pressure. It would have been lot more difficult pitching in yesterday’s game. Francona still has his first team out there. Gonzalez, pops up to Wise in centre, one down. Youkilis, to McGowan throw to Teahen now at first, for the second out. Ortiz, singles to left with shift right on. That would have been out normally. Scutaro, 4-4 night. A real pain for an ex-Jay. Full count, outside ball four. Spears, pops it up to Thames and Boston stifled by McGowan in three innings. Great to see and for next season.
Bottom 7th: Lester still out there, 86 pitches the bullpen needs a break tonight as they have lost so many games five of the last six, they desperately need this win. Woodward 2-2 count. Just frustrating Lester here fouling them off. Strikes out swinging but it took a lot of pitches 8. Lawrie, 2-0 count, pops it up to right, two down for Arencibia. Strikes out swinging.
Top 8th: McGowan out for another inning, this is THE story tonight, forget the score. Saltalamacchia, full count, strikes out swinging. McDonald, 2-2 count, grounds to Teahen at first takes it himself to the bag, two down. Reddick, 0-2 count, oh no, lines it to right and just glances off the top of the wall the wrong way, inches, home run to Reddick. 14-0 Boston. Aviles, 2-2 count, strikes out.
What an outing by McGowan 62 !!! pitches That is an amazing performance. Welcome back Dustin.
Bottom 8th: Lester finally out of this one. Kyle Weiland now pitching. McCoy leading off. Grounds to third, throw to first, one down. Escobar, two hits but not at the right time. Bounces to Scutaro throw to first to get Escobar, two down. Thames. Full count, lines it to McDonald in centre for the out.
Top 9th: Wow. McGowan out there again. Lowrie, full count, outside ball four, Youkilis. full count. Ball four. And here comes Manager Farrell. Standing ovation for McGowan and even his teammates. That is one incredible performance. To be out there is enough but to hold Boston in full swing offence through five innings, that is amazing performance. Carreno now pitching, with two on. Ortiz, still out there. Padding his average tonight. Full count, strikes out, that will ruin your average David. Scutaro, lines first pitch to centre for the out, two quick outs for Carreno. Spears, 0-2 count, strikes out looking on three pitches. Carreno picks up McGowan with three quick outs.
Bottom 9th: Last chance for comeback kids. Wise leading off. Grounds to Scutaro throw to first, one down for Teahen, singles to centre. Encarnacion, grounds to first, two down. Woodward pops it up to McDonald in shallow centre.
Boston win big BUT the story tonight is McGowan. What a performance to come back from three major surgeries in three years and pitch again in the majors. 74 pitches 4 innings.
The question now is will McGowan get a start against Baltimore?
The excellent: McGowan without a doubt. Nothing else tonight.
The bad: Well Perez put this game out of reach in the first inning and it was all downhill from there. Rommie Lewis threw some gasoline on the fire but maybe Red Sox are now out of hits.
Tonight pitches for Boston 122 and for Jays 208, that is almost two games pitched by Jays pitchers. Jays have two more to play here against Boston this week.
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