G4: Cleveland 3, Red Sox 1

Red Sox - 010 000 000 - 1  4  1
Spiders - 000 210 00x - 3  5  1

A dismal game in a dismal park in a dismal town.

Tomlin (7-3-1-3-3, 91) won the Battle of the Joshes. Beckett (5-5-3-4-4, 106) struggled the second time through the Cleveland order; he threw a total of 82 pitches in the third, fourth, and fifth innings, and allowed eight base runners.

The Sox bullpen, however, was superb. Matt Albers struck out the side in the sixth (with a one-out walk). Bobby Jenks allowed struck out the side in the seventh (but had a two-out walk). Daniel Bard pitched a perfect eighth, with two strikeouts.

Boston took an early lead after two were out in the second. David Ortiz walked, J.D. Drew doubled to right, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled to right. Drew was gunned down at the plate to end the inning.

The Red Sox did not get another runner past first base until they were down to their last out in the ninth. Pedroia singled with one down (he had the Sox's other two hits) and Adrian Gonzalez flied to left. Yook walked. With Ortiz at the plate, Pedroia took third, but Flo lined out to left to end the game, dropping the Sox to 0-4.

Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford were a combined 0-for-8 at the top of the order, and did not reach base.

Josh Beckett / Josh Tomlin

Tomlin is a 26-year-old right-hander who debuted last year, starting 12 games and finishing with a 4.56 ERA. He faced the Red Sox on August 5, pitching seven innings and giving up a grand slam to Adrian Beltre.

Beckett has made 143 starts for the Red Sox and Jason Varitek -- the only non-pitcher to not play in the Texas series -- has caught 111 of them. Beckett's Boston ERA with Tek behind the plate is 3.95; in the 32 non-Tek games, it's 5.53.

Here are the individual seasons:

                GS   IP    ERA    OPS
2006 with  Tek  22  135.0  4.93  .752    
     w/out Tek  12   69.2  5.17  .794
  
2007 with  Tek  29  192.2  3.32  .666
     w/out Tek   1    8.0  2.25  .577
  
2008 with  Tek  27  174.1  4.03  .700
     w/out Tek   0
  
2009 with  Tek  27  184.2  3.17  .625
     w/out Tek   6   27.2  8.46 1.033*
  
2010 with  Tek   6   36.1  7.18  .851
     w/out Tek  15   91.1  5.22  .850

* Beckett had some brutal games with George Kottaras and Victor Martinez in 2009, but the two games in which he allowed as many as eight runs both came with Varitek behind the dish.