G97: Red Sox 2, Orioles 1

Orioles - 000 000 001 - 1  7  1
Red Sox - 100 100 00x - 2  7  0

The Red Sox are back in first place (.5 GA)!

This was a long game (3:32) filled with plenty of baserunners, but very few runs. Boston stranded 11 runners in the first five innings. And until Aubrey Huff's single in tyhe ninth inning, Baltimore had six hits, seven walks, a hit batter and a stolen base -- and still had no runs.

Bot allowed three singles in the ninth, but slammed the door on the longest "first half" in team history (97 games) by retiring Melvin Mora (who stranded 11 runners all by himself).

Pedroia singled and took second on Freddie Bynum's throwing error in the second, then scored on Drew's double into the left field corner. Casey doubled to start the fourth and eventually scored on Pedroia's force out.

Cleveland beat Tampa Bay 5-2 and Toronto dispatched New York 4-1.

***

Daniel Cabrera (4.40, 95 ERA+) / Daisuke Matsuzaka (2.84, 152 ERA+)

Terry Francona announced the rotation to start the second half, which begins Friday night in Anaheim:

0718 @ Angels   - Clay Buchholz (6 days rest)
0719 @ Angels   - Josh Beckett (9 days)
0720 @ Angels   - Tim Wakefield (7 days)
  
0721 @ Mariners - Jon Lester (12 days)
0722 @ Mariners - Daisuke Matsuzaka (8 days)
0723 @ Mariners - Clay Buchholz

This will give both Josh Beckett and Jon Lester some extra rest.

At 1 PM:

Rays/Spiders
Yankees/Blue Jays