G114: Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 5

Red Sox   - 031 010 020 - 7 11  1
Blue Jays - 013 000 100 - 5  8  1

Mike Lowell's solo home run broke a 5-5 tie with two outs in the eighth inning. Ryan Kalish followed with a pinch-hit, line drive single to center and he scored on Jed Lowrie's double over the head of Blue Jays CF Fred Lewis. The three hits came on three consecutive pitches from Shawn Camp.

Manny Delcarmen set down Toronto's 7-8-9 hitters in order in home half and Jonathan Papelbon got the save, although he did give up a one-out double to Travis Snider (who had tied the game back in the third with a three-run dong off Dice (5.2-6-4-3-7, 110)).

Felix Doubront struck out Snider on three pitches with the bases loaded in the sixth.

Doubles by David Ortiz, Adrian Beltre, and Lowrie, and a single by Jacoby Ellsbury gave Boston three runs in the second. Victor Martinez's single, Ortiz's second double, and Lowell's sac fly gave the Sox a 4-1 lead. J.D. Drew hit a solo dong to lead off the fifth.

Lowrie and Ortiz each hit two doubles; Lowrie also walked. Ellsbury singled twice.

Mariano Rivera allowed three hits in the 10th (the last one to old friend David Murphy) and the Yankees choked away a game to the Rangers 4-3. The Rays beat the Tigers 8-0. ... Boston is 5 GB in the East.

Daisuke Matsuzaka / Ricky Romero

Scutaro, SS
Drew, RF
Martinez, C
Ortiz, DH
Beltre, 3B
Lowell, 1B
Hall, LF
Lowrie, 2B
Ellsbury, CF

In 12 starts since May 22, Dice has a 2.84 ERA.

In addition to trying to catch the Yankees and/or Rays, the Red Sox now have both the Twins and the White Sox nipping at their heels. Minnesota and Chicago are tied for the lead in the AL Central and only 0.5 GB Boston in the wild card race.

To-nite: Rays/Tigers at 7, and the Yankees/Rangers and Twins/White Sox at 8.

August 10:

1944 - Red Barrett (9-2-0-0-0) of the Boston Braves throws only 58 pitches in a complete game 2-0 shutout of the Reds, which is probably a record. What is odd is that there was no mention of the low pitch count in any of the surviving game stories. I don't know when it was first reported that Barrett threw 58 pitches. Anyway, the game is also the shortest night game in history (1:15).

1999 - Red Sox reliever Tim Wakefield ties a major league record by striking out four Kansas City batters in the ninth inning. He finishes with six strikeouts in 1.2 innings.