Ortiz Lifts Red Sox With 2 Homers; Haren Hurt in Angels Debut

From ESPN.com:

When the line drive hit Dan Haren’s right forearm with a sickening smack, a collective shudder pulsed through Angel Stadium. Not even the Boston Red Sox wanted Haren’s debut with the Los Angeles Angels to end with an ugly injury.

A few hours later, Haren grimaced gratefully when he rubbed the bandage on his bruised arm. The right-hander is fairly certain he lost nothing more than a decision Monday night.

David Ortiz hit two homers in the same stadium where he won the Home Run Derby nearly two weeks ago, and Clay Buchholz pitched seven strong innings in the Red Sox’s 6-3 victory over Haren and the slumping Angels.

Haren struck out eight in his Angels debut before getting tagged by Kevin Youkilis’ fifth-inning line drive while trying to catch it. Los Angeles traded four players to Arizona to land the three-time All-Star, whose forearm will be re-evaluated Tuesday.

Tribe Splits with Sox

John Lester blew a five-run lead for the first time in his career and the Boston Red Sox fell to the Cleveland Indians 8-7 on Thursday night. Not much else to say here – the Sox took a 5-0 lead into the 2nd inning when some weird things started to happen. Lester started to get dinked and dunked while the Indians chipped the Sox lead down to 5-3 in the third ended up taking the lead heading into the 9th inning. A 2-run shot gave the Sox a 7-6 lead and setup Daniel Bard for a save. Long story short, Bard gave up a hit and a few walks to put the winning run on second. A bloop single from Russell Branyan brought in two runs and ended the Sox night.

Russell Branyan rescues Cleveland Indians from evening of bloopers against Boston Red Sox – The Plain Dealer
Red Sox can’t hold on – Boston Globe
The hurts mount for the Sox – ESPN.com
Red Sox-Indians: Let’s just forget this train wreck – Boston Herald

Lester Still Perfect Against O’s

Jon Lester’s 6-1/3 scoreless innings last night at Camden Yards allowed him to continue his dominance of the Baltimore Orioles and extend his lifetime record against the AL East rivals to 11-0. He allowed only three walks and four hits while contributing four strikeouts. In the seventh, he walked the bases loaded, but was helped out when Daniel Bard entered the game and shut down the O’s.

Despite needing help from Bard to get out of the inning, this effort helped continue Lester’s string of quality starts. In his last three outings, he has spread one run over nine hits in his last three starts (19-1/3 innings) and has accounted for six wins in his last seven starts. When asked about Bard’s performance, Lester had the following to say: “He’s great. He bailed me out. He’s done that all year for us. Hopefully he can continue to do it. Obviously you see what he brings to the table every night he pitches. He’s done great and you can’t speak highly enough about what he’s done out of the bullpen for us.”

The Sox will go for the series sweep this evening when they send John Lackey to the mound on Sunday afternoon.

Jon Lester pitches 6-1/3 scoreless against O

Lester, Red Sox still not in a giving mood – Boston Globe
O’s offense, bullpen sputter in loss – Baltimore Sun
Lester improves record vs. O’s to 11-0 – MLB.com
Fireballer Bard a fast learner – ESPN
Daniel Bard’s all set in bullpen – Boston Herald