Bay is the way for the Red Sox, helps gets Penny his 1st win

The Red Sox got off their skid. But it was an interesting game to say the least. Coming down to clutch hitting and pitching by the Sox. Bay powered the Sox to a 4-3 lead in the top of the 7th with a two run homer, and then belted another one in the 9th this time a solo shot, to give them a two run lead which they would end up needing. Torri Hunter hit a solo shot to begin the 9th off Papelbon which brought the score to 5-4. Then would give a up a double to Kendry Morales. He got Juan Rivera to ground to short. Walked Mike Napoli and then struck out Erick Ayber before walking Chone Figgens to load the bases. In a long at bat with Howie Kendrik he got him to fly out to Rocco Baldelli in right to end the game.

Brad Penny who started this game, making his Red Sox debut, pitched a really good game. Both giving them a chance to win and going deep into the game. He ended up going 6.0 innings giving up 3 runs on 5 hits to the Angels. Two of those runs came from the bat of Mike Napoli who hit two solo homers off Penny. Nevertheless, Penny pitched a great game and got the win. Another bright spot was Ramon Ramirez who came in the game in the 7th inning and pitched 1.2 innings giving up no runs and only one hit. However, Papelbon had a tough time in the 9th, mostly with his control. Throwing over 30 pitches his availability for tomorrows game is uncertain but expect Terry Francona to use Takashi Saito in a closing situation.

Other than Bay the only other bright spots were Mike Lowell, who hit a game tying two run home run. Also, Baldelli had a couple hits and contributed greatly defensively.

The Red Sox had baserunners for every inning for the first three. But could not come through with the clutch hit to bring home the runner. The Red Sox are gonna need to score more runs especially if they get guys one 2nd with no outs, which they did in the first two innings. With the win the Red Sox improve to 2-3 on the season.

With Josh Beckett going tomorrow I expect him to come out with another dominant performance. After tomorrows game, which starts 4:00p.m. e.t., the Sox head to Oakland to take on the new look A's for three games. Before heading back home this weekend to play the Orioles.