Boston Red Sox 14 Baltimore Orioles 8 (April 7, 2006)

The Boston Red Sox vaulted into first place in the American League East last night with Matt Clement's first win of the season, defeating the Baltimore Orioles 14-8. The game saw the Sox get 14 runs while Baltimore pitching allowed 14 walks. While the clubs started the night with identical records at 2-1, by the end of the night the Orioles had fallen to third in the division, thanks to the vagaries of April baseball.

Reliever Keith Foulke performed well, not allowing any additional runs from the struggling O's. Clement showed off his first-half success, allowing hardly any hits through six innings, while Orioles pitcher Daniel Cabrera lasted just two. Center fielder Coco Crisp got the game started with a bunt down the third base line, and after that Cabrera lost track of the plate entirely. He threw 42 pitches in the first inning, allowed 6 walks, and only 12 strikes. 10 Red Sox players made it to the plate in the first inning, giving Boston a 4-0 lead - on one hit!

Boston continued its run support for Clement tonight (last year, he had the third-best run support in the A.L.) as he only allowed one walk in six innings. While he struggled in the sixth, and reliever Name allowed the O's to score four runs in the seventh, Boston held on for the win. The victory gave the Red Sox sole possession of first place for the first time in the season, and the fifth straight victory against the O's.

In other A.L. East action, the Rays defeated the Jays 9-8, while the Yankees faced the Angels in a late game.

Date
Fri 04/07/06, 7:27 pm EST

Source

 * [NESN telecast NESN telecast]
 * Official Box Score http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2006_04_07_bosmlb_balmlb_1&c_id=mlb Official Box Score