Toronto Blue Jays 4 Boston Red Sox 7 (May 4, 2006)

Three doubles, a single, a walk, and a groundout lead to 5 first inning runs as the Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays by a score of 7-4.

The five runs were all Matt Clement needed as he dominated a Toronto team that he usually has trouble with. In his previous 4 games against the Jays Clement was 0-2 with a 8.34 ERA, but on Thursday night he went 6 innings allowing only 1 run. He allowed only 2 hits and 4 walks while striking out 3 on his way to the win. He is now 3-2 with a 5.35 ERA on the year.

Jays starter Josh Towers didn't fair as well, allowing 7 runs in 5.2 IP. Towers has been one of the worst pitchers in baseball so far this year as he fell to 0-6 with a 10.59 ERA. It was already his third time losing to the Red Sox this year. Towers was hoping to build on the best year of his career when he went 13-12 with a 3.71 ERA in 208.2 IP in 2004, but so far he has struggled quite a bit.

The middle relief for the Red Sox tried to give the game away as Rudy Seanez allowed a 2 run home run to Troy Glaus in the 8th and Julian Tavarez allowed a solo shot to Eric Hinske in the 9th. Both relievers haven't been able to help the team yet this year. Keith Foulke pitched a scoreless 7th and Jonathan Papelbon got the final two outs of the game for his 11th save on the year.

Every Red Sox starter managed to reach base at least once with Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz being the only two to not get a hit. Kevin Youkilis was the offensive star of the game with a 3-5 performance. He also hit a 2 run HR, his second of the season. Mike Lowell and Wily Mo Pena both remain hot as both went 2-4. Pena knocked in a run and is now batting .322/.369/.559 on the season. Lowell doubled twice, knocked in 2, scored twice, and raised his season line to .326/.381/.505.

Date
Thu 05/04/06, 7:21 pm EST

Source

 * www.mlb.com
 * www.espn.go.com/mlb