Last night was ridiculous. We scored as many runs as we collected hits: fifteen. Six of those were for extra bases. Three of those were home runs, and two of those belonged to Ellsbury, who also had two walks and three RBIs to his credit. We also walked nine times. Only one member of the starting nine, Carp, failed to reach base, and even he managed to at least bat in a run. Only two of our seven batters who had hits had only one hit: Drew and Lavarnway. Ellsbury, Pedroia, and Gomes each had two hits, Victorino had three, and Papi went a perfect four for four at the plate. Yeah. Huge.
Wright got the nod to start this one. And he didn’t waste any time dropping the ball. He issued a walk that turned into a triple after a steal and a passed ball. Then he hit a batter, and then there was another passed ball. And then there was yet another passed ball that actually scored a run this time. Then he got a strikeout, and there was another RBI passed ball. Then he gave up a single, issued another walk, gave a wild pitch to load the bases, and induced a groundout that also scored another run. And then, finally, the inning was over.
Workman came on for the second, but his beginning didn’t really go much better. The second began with a strikeout, and then he gave up a single and a two-run home run. Two outs into the third, he gave up a solo shot. He also gave up a run in the fourth thanks to a triple-single combination. He also got into trouble in the sixth. After securing the inning’s first out, he gave up four consecutive singles and a groundout that, taken together, resulted in two runs.
Workman was replaced by Britton just in time to end the inning with a strikeout. He had a one-two-three seventh, and he gave up a solo shot in the eighth. De La Rosa had a one-two-three ninth.
We went down in order in the first and second and got on the board in the third. Drew singled, Lavarnway struck out, Holt grounded into a force out, and Ellsbury went hard on a fastball. One more baserunner and it would have been a grand slam. But it was quite the homer. All the way to right center field. Lots of power.
But we got ourselves a lead after scoring five runs in the fifth! Ellsbury walked and scored on a double by Victorino, plus a fielding error. Then Pedroia doubled in Victorino. Papi singled, Napoli struck out, Pedroia scored on a groundout by Carp, Papi moved to third on a wild pitch, Drew walked, and Lavarnway doubled in both Papi and Drew. Five runs. Done.
The sixth inning was a repeat performance. We yet again went through the full nine, and we yet again scored five runs! In two innings alone, we scored more runs than we usually score in whole games! The sixth even started with a walk by Ellsbury, just like the fifth. Then Victorino singled, Pedroia singled in Ellsbury, Papi singled in Victorino with a little help from a throwing error, Napoli was out on a fielder’s choice, and then Gomes hit the second pitch of his at-bat out to left field for a three-run shot.
Ellsbury, who was all over the map offensively last night, led off the seventh with a solo shot to right. Victorino walked, Pedroia popped out, and then Papi and Napoli worked back-to-back walks. And Victorino scored on a single by Gomes.
So the pitching was actually pretty messy, when everything was said and done. Fortunately, our hitters had an enormously huge night. The final score, if you can believe it, was 15-10. So it’s bad that the Astros had a slugfest, but it’s good that we had an even bigger one on the same night. I’m glad we won this one. It was pretty awesome to watch us score runs in every conceivable way.

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