G75: Atlanta 2, Red Sox 1

Red Sox - 000 000 001 - 1  5  1
Atlanta - 100 100 00x - 2  6  2

Penny pitched well (6-6-2-0-2, 106) but two solo home runs -- Chipper Jones and Garret Anderson -- was enough for Hanson (6-2-0-2-2, 97) and a quartet of relievers.

On his ninth pitch of the afternoon -- a fastball to Kelly Johnson -- Penny grimaced, called out the trainer and was seen shaking his right arm. Penny said afterwards that his thumb had gone numb when it "popped out of the joint for a second. It was nothing. I just needed a second to let it come back."

Boston's run came when Jason Varitek's two-out single scored Kevin Youkilis.

There was an odd play in that inning. Youkilis singled and Jason Bay struck out. David Ortiz tapped a grounder to second. Johnson gloved the ball and went to tag Youkilis, but Yook froze in the basepath. So Johnson threw to Casey Kotchman at first base to retire Ortiz. Kotchman then threw down to shortstop Diory Hernandez, who chased Youkilis back to first.

Hernandez's throw back to Johnson at the bag was high and Yook was able to slide back in safely. So ... Ortiz grounded out to second and the runner at first did not advance!

***

Brad Penny (4.93, 94 ERA+) / Tommy Hanson (3.13, 136 ERA+)

Penny: 3.81 ERA in his last 10 starts (all of May and June). At $5, he's becoming a bargain at the back end of the rotation.

Terry Francona:

He's gotten us into the sixth pretty regularly. Now, his stuff is getting better, too. His stuff is more powerful. ... He's starting to locate, he's starting to throw it downhill. [Trade rumours?] I didn't pay much attention, because I knew where we were. We didn't sign him to trade him. We signed him to win.

Hanson would be making his fifth career start today. However, he has been battling the flu and Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said it was "very iffy" if he could go this afternoon. If not, Kris Medlen (6.12, 69 ERA+) will get the ball for his fourth career start.

MLB.com:

Hanson continued his recent trend of creating trouble for himself and then pitching out of it. Against the Yankees on Tuesday, the 22-year-old rookie held the Yankees scoreless over 5.1 innings, but walked five batters and hit another. The wildness drove up his pitch count to 99 in the fifth, forcing him out of the game despite allowing just four hits.

Mike Lowell will fly back to Boston tonight and get an injection of Synvisc in his ailing right hip on Monday morning. Lowell:

It's not normal to look forward to an injection, but I'm really looking forward to it. I want to feel the relief that hopefully it can provide. I defer to them when they say I can play after that.