G27: Red Sox 10, Blue Jays 1

Red Sox   - 020 200 402 - 10 15  0
Blue Jays - 000 000 010 -  1  4  1

Mike Napoli hit two long home runs, part of a five-dong Boston attack, as the AL East leaders routed the Blue Jays behind the strong pitching of Clay Buchholz (7-2-0-3-8, 101).

Napoli also added a double; he drove in four runs and scored three times. (I was at this one, and as it will likely be the only MLB game I get to this year, it was a good one.)

David Ortiz ended the first inning with a fly out to deep right, and when Mike Napoli and Daniel Nava began the second with shots to the warning track, it seemed like the Sox might have Buehrle's number. That hunch turned out to be true. After Will Middlebrooks was hit by a pitch, Stephen Drew belted a two-run homer to put the Sox on the board, and Napoli and Daniel Nava went back-to-back to open the fourth.

With two outs in the seventh, Jonny Gomes walked, ending Buehrle's night (6.2-7-5-3-1, 106). Dustin Pedroia greeted Esmil Rogers with a single, and Gomes raced to third. With Ortiz batting, Rogers threw a wild pitch; Gomes scored and FY took second, and the Jays manager John Gibbons decided to walk Ortiz intentionally. (Silly rabbit.) Napoli crushed the shit out of a 3-0 pitch, giving Boston an 8-0 lead, and prompting hundreds of Jays fans to head for the exits.

Mike Carp pinch-hit for Ortiz in the ninth and homered to right. Napoli followed with a double and scored on Nava's single.

Buchholz allowed only two singles: one in the third and one in the seventh. He struck out the side in the third, and ended the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings with a K. Alex Wilson and Clayton Mortensen finished up.

Clay Buchholz / Mark Buehrle

Ellsbury, CF
Gomes, LF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Nava, RF
Middlebrooks, 3B
Drew, SS
Ross, C

Red Sox ERA Leaders Through First 5 Games Of A Season (Since 1920)

ERA    IP    ER   PITCHER         YEAR
0.21   42.1   1   Lefty Grove     1936
0.60   45.0   3   Boo Ferriss     1945
0.66   41.0   3   Roger Clemens   1991
0.68   39.2   3   Roger Moret     1973 
0.84   42.2   4   Willard Nixon   1953
1.19   37.2   5   Clay Buchholz   2013

Just Noticed: this is JoS post #6,000!