Game 90: O's 6 Sox 8

Sox had a spot start by Weiland today, which was his very first game in the bigs. He pitched well enough getting snake bitten in the 2nd inning. He gave up 6 runs that inning but didn't give up very many hard hit balls. A couple of bloops, a couple of poor defensive plays, and one two-run home run was the story of the inning. He was set to get the win though as the Sox offense kept the team ahead of the Orioles. But with Friday night's fight, the umps were overly sensitive to HBPs and ended up tossing Weiland after he hit Guerrero on a ball that was very obviously unintentional. Instead Aceves pitched very well in three innings of relief to get the win. Bard held the eighth and Papelbon got the save.

At the plate, Reddick was the only batter to not record a hit and Ortiz Drew, and Scutaro were the only batters to only get one hit. Scutaro, Pedroia, and Youkilis all got home runs in the 2nd inning. The offense has looked very efficient lately. Perfect timing as the Sox are getting 4 days off with the All Star game upcoming. It is good timing for the injuries though so hopefully everyone stays hot after the break.

Great to get the sweep but it was disappointing to see the Orioles be so petty in the series. Yes they got beat around but the Sox were clearly the superior team and they didn't seem to be showboating about it. I think O's manager Showalter has had a negative influence on the team this year, taking some shots at the Sox front office and giving the Orioles a inferiority complex. Ortiz got thrown at again today but hopefully in the remaining series against the O's there won't be so much vitrol.