ALCS Game 1: Red Sox vs Indians

Josh Beckett turned in another solid postseason performance for the Boston Red Sox on Friday night against the Cleveland Indians. The performance was not as brilliant as his first start of the postseason, but it didn't need to be.

Beckett through 80 pitches through 6 innings and gave up 2 earned runs on 4 hits. Beckett struck out 7 and walked none. Beckett has now thrown 15 innings this postseason, allowing 2 runs, striking out 15, and walking none. As the numbers show, he's been incredible. The efficient and short night came as a result of a large Boston lead and opens up the possibility for Beckett to start Game 4 if the Red Sox are in a hole. If not, he'll likely start Game 5 as was planned by the team.

CC Sabathia, while great in the regular season, has looked awful in his 2 postseason starts and its starting to appear as if he's having trouble battling some nerves. After struggling against the Yankees in the ALDS, Sabathia gave up 8 earned runs to the Red Sox and walked 5 over the course of 4.1 innings.

The Indians struck first against Beckett thanks to a homerun by Travis Hafner, but the Red Sox quickly answered in the bottom half of the 1st inning before bailing Sabathia out of trouble with a double play. Beckett and Sabathia both tossed scoreless frames in the 2nd inning, but it was the 3rd inning when the Red Sox began to break out.

Manny Ramirez started things off with a bases loaded walk. Mike Lowell followed with a 2-RBI ground-rule double. Jason Varitek added another run with an RBI groundout to make it 5-1 Boston.

Sabathia settled down again in the 4th before allowing 3 more runs to score in the 5th, ending his night. From there, the Red Sox just coasted to victory. Mike Timlin pitched a scoreless inning of relief, Javier Lopez allowed 1 run in the 8th inning, and Eric Gagne pitched a scoreless, but shaky 9th inning. Gagne struggled with the control but was hitting 94 MPH on the gun and struck out the side to end the ballgame.

Every Boston started recorded at least one hit while David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez combined to reach base 10 times for the Red Sox. Mike Lowell and Manny Ramirez had 3 RBIs apiece. Jason Varitek and Bobby Kielty contributed 2 more each in the rout.

The Red Sox were also to wear out the Indians bullpen a little bit as a result of the early exit by Sabathia. Jensen Lewis, Aaron Fultz, Tom Mastny, and Joe Borowski all pitched for the Indians in the loss. The Indians managed to salvage Rafael Perez and Rafael Betancourt, their two top relievers.

The win gives Boston a 1-0 series lead in the best of 7 series.