Snakes back on the plane by Jared Carrabis
Sox sweep the D-Backs out of Boston


In front of a crowd decorated in shades of green, the Red Sox looked to finish the job and sweep the Arizona Diamondbacks out of Fenway Park.

Once a coveted young catcher by the Red Sox, Miguel Montero burned the team that once desired his services with an RBI double in the top of the first off of starter, John Lackey.

A 5-4 put out of Kevin Youkilis in the bottom half of the frame knotted the game up at one.

In the top half of the third, the D-Backs struck with another RBI double, this time off the bat of Chris Young. Once again, the lead was short-lived, as Mark Reynolds committed his sixth error of the season to let Darnell McDonald reach.

Later in the inning, after receiving his award for AL Player of the Month before the game, David Ortiz murdered a 3-2 cutter off of Dan Haren for a two-run shot. The homer for Ortiz was his fourteenth of the season, as Boston reclaimed the lead, 3-2.

Refusing to let a sweep come easy, Kelly Johnson singled home the tying run in the fourth.

Montero struck again with his second RBI double of the game in the fifth inning to take a 4-3 lead, but in the bottom half, Boston's offense, again, answered the call.

With Daniel Nava aboard after one of his three hits, Marco Scutaro laced a double down the left field line to tie things up at four.

With Lackey hurling a scoreless sixth, only his second shutout inning to that point, the Red Sox sent seven men to the plate, scoring twice on an RBI base hit by Adrian Beltre and a sacrifice fly by Scutaro.

Ahead 6-4, Boston tacked on two more runs in the eighth on an RBI double off the bat of Nava, who came home on a run-scoring single by Scutaro, who was 2-for-4 with 3 RBI on the night.

Lackey was done after six, giving up the four runs, three earned, on eight hits, while walking two and striking out five. The burly right-hander tossed 112 pitches, and just 63 for strikes.

Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima were both credited with holds, hurling the seventh and eighth innings respectively, combining to surrender just one hit, while striking out three.

Jonathan Papelbon came out of the pen for the ninth, and was knocked around for a run on a single and a double, but it wouldn't be enough to avoid the sweep. If only the Celtics were as lucky as the Red Sox. (sigh) Sorry, I had to.

Final Score: Diamondbacks 5, Red Sox 8
WP: John Lackey (8-3)
LP: Dan Haren (7-5)

Game notes: Dustin Pedroia extended his hitting streak to seven games, with five being multi-hit games. Marco Scutaro extended his hitting streak to six games, just two short of his season-high. Adrian Beltre has himself a seven-game hitting streak, and has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games. With both the Rays and Yankees losing, the Red Sox moved to just two games behind first place in the AL East.

-Jared Carrabis

To order Jared's debut book, One Fan's Story: If This Hat Could Talk, click HERE!





Published on June 18, 2010

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