Red Sox Beat Blue Jays On Walk-Off Play At The Plate That Goes Their Way

One of the great things about baseball (and why people will put up with such long seasons) is that no matter how many games you watch it at any level, you always have the chance to see something for the first time.

Last night was one of those special moments as the Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 at Fenway Park.

After Blue Jays (42-45) infielder John McDonald (2 hits) hit a two-out single to left field off Red Sox (50-35) closer Jonathan Papelbon, Edwin Encarnacion rounded third with the possible tying run.

However, Boston left fielder Darnell McDonald threw a strike to catcher Jason Varitek, who blocked the plate, and the captain was able to put a tag on Encarnacion before he scored. It was an extremely close play (replays showed that he might have swiped the plate) but he was called out and that's all that matters. A walk-off outfield assist. Crazy.

The bigger news of the contest was that Red Sox starter Jon Lester left after four no-hit innings with a left lat injury. He was placed on the DL today and won't be able to return until at least July 22.

Alfredo Aceves will get Lester's scheduled start on Sunday vs. the Orioles, the last game before the All-Star break.

Called to duty earlier than usual, Matt Albers (3-3) threw two scoreless innings with two strikeouts for the win. Franklin Morales (seventh) and Daniel Bard (eighth) added scoreless frames before Papelbon did his best to blow it when he was handed a 3-0 lead in the ninth.

He allowed four hits, including a two-run bomb (a rainbow over the Monster) by Blue Jays uber slugger Jose Bautista (his 28th of the season) but was bailed out by McDonald and Varitek to get his 18th save of the season.

Brett Cecil (1-4) went the whole way (eight innings) for Toronto. He allowed three earned runs on seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

Boston pushed across two in the second on Varitek's RBI double which plated David Ortiz and J.D. Drew's RBI single which scored Varitek.

Batting in the cleanup spot-with Kevin Youkilis sitting-Dustin Pedroia hit his eighth homer of the season, a solo laser show in the third. You know that awesome phrase has jumped the shark when not only does NESN use it for his home run calls but also Sportscenter.

Adrian Gonzalez is out of the lineup tonight for the first time this season as Tim Wakefield takes on Ricky Romero who is a very good lefty that seems to always get knocked around by the Red Sox.

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What The Hell Should The Red Sox Do With John Lackey?

It has reached the point with the John Lackey experience that I honestly don't even know what the Boston Red Sox can do with him at this point.

He has the worst ERA (7.47) of any pitcher in baseball who has thrown over 70 innings. His ERA at Fenway this season is 9.17 with a 3-4 record. Lackey has lost his last three starts after yesterday's 9-7 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway on the fourth of July.

It was the shortest outing of Lackey's (5-8) career (2.1 innings) as he allowed seven earned runs on nine hits with two strikeouts.

The Red Sox (49-35) can either stick with him in the rotation, put him in the bullpen or place him on the DL. We've all seen what having him pitch every fifth day is like. I don't think remaking him as a reliever will work either since he's never done that. Finally, Boston loves cooking up fake injuries (there were reports last week that he needed Tommy John surgery) so I wouldn't put it past them to go with the latter option.

As much as I'd love to see them simply release him, they're stuck with him after giving him such a big contract in December 2009. Even John Henry can't absorb a $53.38 million dollar loss (yet), after all he's got a trophy wife to please.

The ironic and cruel part of yesterday's Lackey implosion was that the Red Sox almost rallied for a ridiculous comeback after trailing 7-0 in the third inning.

Jacoby Ellsbury (4 for 5, 2 RBIs, run, stolen base) led off the ninth with a single off Blue Jays (42-44) closer Frank Francisco and stole second base but Francisco proceeded to strike out Dustin Pedroia, Adrian Gonzalez and Yamaico Navarro (who came in after Kevin Youkilis was hit in the back with a pitch in the fourth) to record his 10th save of the season.

Toronto starter Brandon Morrow (5-4) was his usual erratic self but when you're matched up against Lackey, anything better than the worst start of your career should get it done. He went five innings, allowing four earned runs on five hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

Rajai Davis (2 hits, run, RBI, stolen base) scored on Youk's error in the first for 1-0 Blue Jays lead. They tacked on two in the second on Aaron Hill's (3 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBIs) solo homer and an RBI single by John McDonald (2 hits, run, RBI).

Lackey's holiday was quickly over in the third as he gave up an RBI single to Adam Lind, an RBI single to Hill and a two-run double to Travis Snider (3 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBIs) that made it 7-0. I'm sure the crowd was filled with an extra amount of pink hats and goobers since it was the fourth but even they had the common sense to boo Lackey big time and cheer when Terry Francona emerged to take him out. Brutal.

The Red Sox started to comeback as they plated four runs in the fourth. Ellsbury started it with a two-run triple, Dustin Pedroia walked with the bases loaded and Adrian Gonzalez knocked in Pedroia with an RBI double off the Monster.

Dan Wheeler had by far his best outing in his brief Red Sox career as he got eight outs. He didn't allow a hit or walk anybody, it was good stuff after Lackey's latest turd salad.

Toronto got single runs in the seventh and eighth off Alfredo Aceves. Edwin Encarnacion scored in the seventh on Navarro's error and Davis drove in McDonald (Connecticut shoreline connection!) with an RBI double.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia provided another two-run triple, this time in the eighth and J.D. Drew knocked in Boston's final run with a sacrifice fly.

Two lefties duel tonight as Brett Cecil goes for the Blue Jays and Jon Lester takes the ball for the Red Sox.

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