Things started out like the previous game though in the top of the first inning. Daniel Nava led the game off against Orioles starter Ubaldo Jimenez by striking out swinging. Dustin Pedroia singled to right and David Ortiz walked, but Mike Napoli popped up to third and Jonny Gomes struck out looking to end the inning. Lackey made his season debut by giving up a leadoff single to Nick Markakis in the bottom of the first. David Lough tried to bunt him over but popped it up to first. Adam Jones struck out looking and Chris Davis flied out to right to end the inning.
Grady Sizemore led off the top of the second with a scintillating fly out to left. Xander Bogaerts singled to left but AJ Pierzynski flied to left out as well. Will Middlebrooks continued to struggle by striking looking out to end the frame. Sox killer Nelson Cruz flied out to center to begin the bottom of the second. Lackey whiffed Matt Wieters and JJ Hardy grounded out to second to end the inning.
The Sox struck first in the top of the third. Nava popped up to third but Pedroia singled to left. Ortiz then swatted a 410 foot home run to give the Sox the lead. His first of the season and hopefully of many. Napoli popped up to second and Gomes struck out swinging again to end the inning with the Sox ahead 2-0.
Lackey remained red hot in the bottom of the third. Ryan Flaherty popped up to third, Stephen Lombardozzi struck out swinging and Markakis struck out looking. Bing, bang, boom.
Sizemore struck out looking to begin the top of the 4th but Bogaerts walked. Pierzynski swung and missed at 3 straight sliders and Middlebrooks hit a shot to center but it didn't have enough to get out to end the inning. The O's fought back in the bottom of the 4th although Lough flied out to left to start. Jones struck out swinging but Davis walked and Nelson Cruz did it again when he homered to tie the game. If he played against the Red Sox all season he'd break Roger Maris' home run record easy and possibly the steroid-aided ones too. Wieters singled to center but Hardy flied out to center to end the inning with the game tied 2-2.
Fortunately the Sox wasted no time getting the lead back in the top of the 5th. Nava got his first trip to first base this season by getting drilled. Pedroia flied out to center and Ortiz flied out to right but in stepped Napoli. As DDP would say, BANG! Napoli smashed a 418 foot home run to dead center to give the Sox the lead. Gomes flied out to center to end the inning but the Sox had the lead back 4-2.
Could Lackey preserve the lead in the bottom of the 5th? Flaherty struck out swinging, Lombardozzi hit a shot that was stabbed by Napoli and Markakis grounded out to third to end the inning. Does that answer the question?
Could the Sox strike again off Jimenez in the top of the 6th? Sizemore flied out to left but Bogaerts walked again, 3 plate trips and 3 trips to first base. Unfortunately he was erased on the Pierzynski double play to end the inning. So the answer to the question was a big NO! Lackey remained tough in the bottom of the 6th when Lough flied out to center, Jones grounded out to second and Davis hit one up the elevator shaft to end the inning. If it wasn't for Nelson Cruz, Lackey would be working on a 2 hit shut out right now. Instead he left the game after throwing 6 innings of 2 run ball to put the Sox in line to win.
The Sox struck again in the top of the 7th off reliever Ryan Webb. Middlebrooks whiffed again but Nava singled to center. Pedroia hit one down to Flaherty who graciously threw the ball away allowing Nava to reach third and Pedroia second. This is where the O's miss Manny Machado and Michael Almanzar (Portland Sea Dogs third basemen last season). O's manager Buck Showalter had Ortiz intentionally walked to load the bases for Napoli. Mike made them pay by lashing a single to center that scored Nava and Pedroia to give the Sox a commanding lead. Gomes hit one back to the pitcher but both runners advanced. With two more runners in scoring position, Showalter lifted Webb for lefty Bryan Matusz. With a chance to do more damage....Sizemore popped up to short to end the inning with the Sox ahead 6-2.
Red Sox manager John Farrell expressed his confidence in his bullpen when he brought in Edward Mujica, the former Cardinals closer last season, to pitch the bottom of the 7th. Lackey had only thrown 90 pitches but if the bullpen couldn't preserve a 4 run lead, they didn't deserve to win. Mujica made good by striking out Cruz looking and getting Wieters to ground out to first. Hardy singled but Flaherty flied out to center to end the inning. The first of hopefully many scoreless innings for Mujica.
The Sox ran themselves into trouble in the top of the 8th. Darren O'Day relieved Matusz and Bogaerts grounded out to short, so much for 4 for 4. Pierzynski singled to right but was shockingly doubled off first on a pop up from Middlebrooks. It looked to be a bloop single but instead of running halfway, Pierzynski was practically on second base when the ball was caught, nice base running.
The Orient Express came on to finish the game. First, Junichi Tazawa pitched the bottom of the 8th but was greeted by a Lombardozzi single to center. Taz recovered to induce a fly out to right from Markakis, a fly out from Lough to center and a strikeout swinging from Jones to end the inning.
Josh Stinson replaced O'Day in the top of the 9th and Nava grounded out to first to start. Pedroia got his fourth hit of the night with a single to left. Ortiz flied out to right and Napoli flied out to center to end the inning, but its good to see Pedroia locked in early. Koji Uehara made his season debut as Jackie Bradley Jr took over in left field. Chris Davis took advantage of shoddy defense by Napoli to reach on an error. Cruz flied out to right and Wieters struck out swinging, but Davis advanced to second on a wild pitch and then on an infield single by Hardy. "No problemo, I got this" said Uehara as Flaherty grounded out to first to end the game. The Red Sox had their first victory of the season and Uehara celebrated as he usually does, high fiving everyone in sight and....well....this:
Hero of the Night is an easy one. Mike Napoli drove in 4 of Boston's 6 runs by himself with a 2 run single and a 2 run home run.
The Good:
Dustin Pedroia was 4 for 5 with 2 runs scored.
David Ortiz was 1 for 3 with 2 walks including his first home run of the season.
Xander Bogaerts was 1 for 2 with 2 walks.
John Lackey pitched 6 innings of 2 run ball, allowing just 3 hits and a walk while striking out 6.
Edward Mujica pitched a scoreless 7th inning.
Junichi Tazawa pitched a scoreless 8th inning.
Koji Uehara pitched a scoreless 9th inning.
THE BAD:
Jonny Gomes was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
Will Middlebrooks was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts
Grady Sizemore was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
THE UGLY:
Daniel Nava was just 1 for 4 with a hit-by-pitch but also scored both times he appeared on base.
AJ Pierzynski was just 1 for 4 and got doubled off the one time he got on base.
HONORABLE MENTION:
Jackie Bradley Jr stood in left field in the 9th inning and did absolutely nothing.
Final Thoughts:
Nice to see Lackey pick up where he left off last season. The sad part was Jon Lester pitched better in the first game and still lost, amazing what run support can do. Ironically it was Lackey that was the victim of poor run support last season. Still, they got their first win and so far their pitching has been impressive. Good news is Shane Victorino and Craig Breslow won't be out for long, especially Breslow who's technically not injured. Bradley Jr better get in as many games as he can because he'll be the first to go when somebody comes back. The Sox look to take two out of three from the Orioles tomorrow night when Felix Doubront takes the hill opposite Wei-Yin Chen in the final game of the series at 7:05 PM at Camden Yards
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