Red Sox Live Blog: Mike Aviles Blasts Homer For Second Straight Day, Sox Edge Rays 6-4

by abournenesn

Apr 15, 2012

Red Sox Live Blog: Mike Aviles Blasts Homer For Second Straight Day, Sox Edge Rays 6-4

Final, Red Sox 6-4: Alfredo Aceves has bounced back nicely since a rough start, converting the save with no issues.

Making his Fenway debut, Jason Repko made a spectacular diving catch to rob Keppinger of a hit.

Bottom 8th, Red Sox 6-4: No fireworks in this inning. It came and went in a span of minutes.

Now it's time to see whether Alfredo Aceves can shut the door.

Mid 8th, Red Sox 6-4: Franklin Morales surrenders two hits but pitches a spotless inning. It marks his second straight day with a clean appearance.

But now comes the bottom of the eighth inning. Over the past two games, the Red Sox have combined to score 13 runs in the eighth. Here we go.

Bottom 7th, Red Sox 6-4: David Ortiz's streak of seven straight hits is over as he grounded out to first base in that at-bat.

Padilla has also been replaced by Franklin Morales in the eighth inning.

4:16 p.m.: Mike Aviles really likes that leadoff spot. For the second straight day, he's led off the seventh inning with a solo shot.

This round-tripper was to straightaway center field, and he's been on fire. As I wrote earlier, he appears capable of hitting for Ellsbury atop the order. You can't replace Ellsbury, but Aviles is doing his job as best as possible.

Mid 7th, Red Sox 5-4: Vicente Padilla has really helped fortify the bullpen, inheriting Alfredo Aceves' previous role as a long reliever.

He threw some sliders and splitters to get Luke Scott — Fenway's villian — out and exited with a mini-ovation.

Bottom 6th, Red Sox 5-4: The Rays strategized against the Red Sox' batters, and it worked in their favor this time.

Matt Moore walked Cody Ross and Kelly Shoppach to get to Jason Repko with the bases juiced and two outs.

Repko made good contact with the pitch but ended up flying out to deep right field.

Mid 6th, 4-4: Luke Scott continued to own the "dump" — which is what he called Fenway — crushing a solo shot off Doubront to deadlock it.

After a few pitching changes, Padilla came in and handled business, getting a quick strikeout and flyout to end any threats.

3:38 p.m.: Vicente Padilla is up to throw. Unfortunately for him, the scoreboard mispelled his name and added an "n" to it.

3:27 p.m.: Felix Doubront tried to get it going in the next inning but surrendered a homer to Fenway's new villain, Luke Scott.

Doubront threw 96 pitches, 59 of them for strikes. He still needs to work on his pitching efficiency, but he sliced it ever so slightly compared to his outing in Toronto.

Bottom 5th, Red Sox 4-3: A quick one for the Red Sox, but there was a funny moment with the public address announcer.

When Mike Aviles stepped up, the PA announcer introduced him as Dustin Pedroia by accident. Then, in the next at-bat, Dustin Pedroia walked up and the PA announcer called him Mike Aviles by mistake.

It stirred a laugh from the crowd over here.

Mid 5th, Red Sox 4-3: Doubront endured a rough inning, but it could've been much worse.

Carlos Pena appeared to have belted a three-run homer, but when the umpires took a look at the replay — the first instance it's been used here at Fenway this season — it missed being a round-tripper by inches.

Pena ultimately slapped a two-run double. With Vicente Padilla in the bullpen, I wouldn't be shocked if Doubront's day is done.

Bottom 4th, Red Sox 4-0: David Ortiz continues to be a hitting machine, delivering a single after a double earlier on Sunday.

While we're at it, Kelly Shoppach has, too, uncorking a double off the left field wall to bring in Ortiz. The lefties are hitting well.

Mid 4th, Red Sox 3-0: Little by little, Mike Aviles is making everyone forget that Jose Iglesias was in the picture.

During Sean Rodriguez' at-bat, Aviles backtracked deep, dove to his left and fired a bullet to third base, where Kevin Youkilis tagged a runner in the rundown.

It was a pretty impressive play. It comes a day after Aviles crushed his first homer of the season.

Bottom 3rd, Red Sox 3-0: Matt Moore tossed the entire kitchen sink to Pedroia during their at-bat, which led to a groundout.

The 22-year-old already allowed more runs in this game than he has in any game in his brief career. He allowed two runs last time out, when he pitched against the Yankees.

Mid 3rd, Red Sox 3-0: Felix Doubront racked up another two strikeouts, this time getting Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena on some curveballs.

Since we're talking about pitching, Bob McClure is back after missing Saturday with a cold and "deep cough," according to Bobby Valentine.

Bottom 2nd, Red Sox 3-0: When Cody Ross is hitting, he's really hitting. He's always been a streaky hitter, and he's riding a good wave right now.

A day after homering, he unloaded a three-run bomb off Matt Moore to give the Red Sox an early lead, something they haven't had many of this season.

To think that Ross didn't get snatched up until late in the offseason.

Mid 2nd, 0-0: Doubront has thrown 30 pitches so far, with 17 pitches going for strikes.

As good as he pitched last time around, he couldn't go past the fifth inning because he had thrown way too many pitches.

It's worth seeing how efficient he'll be with his pitches this time around.

Bottom 1st, 0-0: This is the Matt Moore that we've all heard about. He's had a crazy journey to the big leagues.

After one career major league start, he made his first career playoff start last year in Game 1 against the Rangers in the opening round and won.

That's right — he started a postseason game before a spring training game. 

Mid 1st, 0-0: Felix Doubront mixed the fastball and curveballs there nicely, striking out the first two batters of the game.

Since Evan Longoria walked in the next at-bat, it took until the fourth batter for the ball to be put in play against Doubront.

It turned out to be a popup.

1:30 p.m.: As Jackie Robinson's former teammate on the Brooklyn Dodgers, Ralph Branca threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

He's also Bobby Valentine's father-in-law. Small world, right?

8 a.m. ET: The Red Sox (3-5) are riding their first two-game winning streak since last August and are looking to inch a little closer to a sweep of the Rays (4-4) at Fenway in Sunday's game, which takes place 1:35 p.m. The American League East rivalry match also falls on Jackie Robinson Day.

The Red Sox will have Felix Doubront, who was impressive in his start against Toronto, take the mound against Tampa Bay. Doubront allowed two runs over five innings but received a no-decision in his first outing of the season. He will face off against highly touted pitching prospect Matt Moore, who struck out four in his last outing.

For all analysis and details from Fenway, follow NESN.com's live blog. Be sure to tune into NESN for the game.

Previous Article

Report: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen Out for Celtics on Sunday Against Bobcats

Next Article

Cody Ross Points to Return to Fenway, Rapport With ‘Best Hitting Coach’ Dave Magadan as Keys to Resurgence

Picked For You