Indians vs Red Sox (7/23-7/26)

Game 1: Jon Lester's control was shaky at times, but he kept the Red Sox in the game as he pitched 6 innings and allowed only 2 runs. Lester left the game with 5-2 lead and showed some fire in the 4th inning when he pitched his way out of a jam. The inning ended when Lester struck out Grady Sizemore with the bases loaded. Lester ended up striking out 6 and walking 3.

The Red Sox did alot of their scoring in the early going as they scored 4 runs in the 1st inning, and 1 run in the 2nd inning. Jake Westbrook settled down after that and gave Cleveland a chance to make a comeback.

Manny Ramirez, Coco Crisp, Dustin Pedroia, and KevinYoukilis led the Red Sox offense. Mike Timlin, Javier Lopez, and Manny Delcarmen combined to pitch scoreless frames in the 7th, 8th, and 9th.

Jon Lester picked up his 1st win of 2007 and the Red Sox will remain 7.5 games ahead of the Yankees unless the Yankees blow a late lead to Kansas City tonight.

Game 2: Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon combined for a shutout on Tuesday night against the Cleveland Indians in a 1-0 victory. Matsuzaka pitched 7 innings, allowed 4 hits, and 3 walks, while striking out 5. Papelbon and Okajima pitched perfect innings in the 8th and 9th.

The only run of the game was scored when Ben Francisco misplayed a flyball hit by Mike Lowell with runners on base. The misplay resulted in a run for the Red Sox as Kevin Youkilis crossed the plate on the plate. The play turned out to be the difference in the game.

The Yankees currently have a big lead on Kansas City, so the Red Sox will likely remain 7.5 games in 1st place. The win is their 5th in a row.

Game 3: Wednesday night brought another 1-0 duel, but this time the Red Sox were on the wrong side of it. Fausto Carmona pitched 8 scoreless innings for Cleveland, trumping Josh Beckett's 8 innings of 1 run ball.

The only run of the night came off of a solo homerun hit by Franklin Gutierrez. The homerun came in the 3rd inning as Gutierrez got out in front of an outside fastball and pulled it over the left field wall.

The Red Sox did not have many chances on the evening, but they found a way to blow the ones they had. Every time the Red Sox got a baserunner they found a way to squander the chance. Coco Crisp was thrown out at the plate after trying to score from 2nd on an infield single with Manny Ramirez on deck and 2 outs in the inning. Julio Lugo was caught stealing, as were Alex Cora and Jason Varitek.

The loss brings the Yankees to within 7 games of 1st place in the AL East. A Yankee win tonight would make the lead 6.5, a Yankee loss would bring the Red Sox lead back to 7.5 games.

Game 4: The Red Sox won a slugfest on Thursday night by the score of 14-9. Kason Gabbard gave up 5 runs in less than 5 innings, but the Red Sox got a 4-hit night out of Wily Mo Pena including a homerun as well as a 2-homerun performance by Manny Ramirez.

Cliff Lee started the game for Cleveland and gave up 7 runs in 4 innings.