Ortiz Homers, Buchholz Solid In Red Sox Victory
[photogallerylink id=27816 align=right]David Ortiz homered, Dustin Pedroia scored three runs and Clay Buchholz had another solid start to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 6-3 victory over Arizona on Tuesday night and send the Diamondbacks to their 11th straight road loss.
Buchholz (9-4) allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk, striking out eight in 5 2-3 innings for his sixth win in seven starts. Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his 14th save.
Pedroia was hit by a pitch in the first inning, and Ortiz followed with his first homer since June 2 - his 13th of the season. In the third, Pedroia doubled in a run, Daniel Nava scored on a wild pitch and then Pedroia scored to make it 6-1 on an infield single by Victor Martinez that resulted in a close play for first base umpire Jim Joyce.
Replays showed he was right.
Ian Kennedy (3-4) gave up six runs on nine hits and a walk, striking out six in six innings while also throwing two wild pitches and hitting a batter. He is 0-3 with two no-decisions since May 19.
The early lead was a boon to the Fenway Park crowd, which began filtering out shortly after Game 6 of the NBA finals between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers began. A "Beat L.A.!" chant right broke out right around tipoff time, and empty seats soon followed.
Arizona scored two in the fourth to make it 6-3 when Miguel Montero doubled and took third on Chris Young's single. Young stole second, and they both scored on Justin Upton's double.
But Pedroia singled to lead off the bottom of the fifth, moved up on a groundout and scored on Kevin Youkilis' double.
Youkilis let Montero's first-inning grounder go through his legs at first base - his first error of the season and first at first base since April 8 of last year.
But he also made two nice plays to field grounders to his right in the second inning, tossing to Buchholz at the bag for a 3-1 putout reminiscent of Joyce's blown call that cost Detroit's Armando Galarraga a perfect game. Neither one was as close as Martinez's infield hit on a grounder to shortstop in the third inning.
NOTES: The Diamondbacks traded OF Conor Jackson to Oakland for minor league closer Sam Demel. Demel will report to Boston on Wednesday, and the team will need to make another roster move then. ... Red Sox SS Marco Scutaro received a cortisone injection in the side of his neck on Monday to ease pains in his neck and elbow trouble. Scutaro wanted to play on Tuesday, but the Red Sox gave him another day to rest. ... Martinez, a native of Venezuela, was watching the Brazil World Cup match before the game, wearing a team shirt and colorful hat. ... Brothers J.D. and Stephen Drew faced each other for the 16th time.
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