G116: White Sox 5, Red Sox 3

Red Sox   - 000 000 030 - 3  5  0
White Sox - 001 020 11x - 5  7  0

Pedroia's three-run home run brought the Sox to within one run with one out in the eighth. Before FY swung, no Boston runners had advanced past second base.

But then Ortiz grounded out (and merely jogged down the line, not that the Boston sportswriters noticed or, if they did, thought it worthy of comment), Youkilis walked on four pitches, and Lowell (ahead on the count 3-1) fouled out to the catcher.

Delcarmen allowed a solo home run to Quentin in the bottom half to make the task a bit tougher. In the ninth, Bay flied to deep right-center, Lowrie was hit by a pitch, Varitek was allowed to bat and flew out to shallowish center, and pinch-hitter Casey (who should have hit for Tek) grounded to shortstop on an oops check swing.

***

Jon Lester (3.14, 142 ERA+) / Mark Buehrle (4.07, 109 ERA+)

The last time the Red Sox played in US Cellular Field (late last August), they scored at least 10 runs in each of the four games (11-3, 10-1, 14-2, 11-1), sweeping the White Sox by a combined score of 46-7. As I wrote at the time, it:

was the first time in major league history that a road team has swept a four-game series with 10 or more runs scored in each game.

Also, it has been 85 years since an American League team had scored 10+ in each game of a four-game series (the other three times: St. Louis Browns 1920, St. Louis Browns 1922, Colorado Rockies 1996).

X-rays of Kevin Youkilis's right hand were negative and he may return to the lineup tonight.

Jason Bay -- 11-for-26 (.423) since the trade with at least one hit in all six games -- is settled in. ... Sean McAdam, ProJo:

According to research by the Elias Sports Bureau, the last midseason acquisition to begin his Red Sox career with a hitting streak of at least six games was third baseman George Kell, who hit in 10 straight after coming over from Detroit in June of 1952.

Michael Silverman (Herald) looks at the remaining schedules of the three AL East contenders.

          Home Games   Games v 1st-
                       or 2nd-place teams
Red Sox:   25 of 47    19 of 47
Rays:      23 of 48    19 of 47
Yankees:   19 of 47    25 of 47

Also: Tampa Bay lost last night, so they lost a bit of their lead to Boston (2.5 GB) and New York (5.5 GB). Rays/Mariners and Yankees/Angels, both at 10 PM

Red Sox minor league pitcher Victor De La Cruz (Dominican Summer League) was immediately suspended 50 games after testing positive for the steroid Stanozolol.