The slugging Sox, fresh off scoring 12 runs the day before, got to David Price early and often. Boston scored two in the first, two more in the third, then pushed across one run each in the fourth and fifth.
It was a generous showing of run support for John Lackey, making his first postseason start as a member of the Red Sox. Lackey wasn't especially sharp but pitched well enough to earn the win, allowing four earned runs in five and a third innings of work. Lackey departed from the game with a 6-4 lead, leaving Boston's bullpen to finish the job. Craig Breslow recorded the final two outs of the sixth and pitched a scoreless seventh, getting Ben Zobrist to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Price made it through the sixth and seventh unscathed as well but Joe Maddon, hoping to compensate for Matt Moore's early exit yesterday, brought him back out to start the eighth. Price promptly served up another gopher ball to David Ortiz, who belted Price's 102nd pitch over the Pesky Pole for his second home run of the game. With the Red Sox up 7-4 Maddon finally removed Price from the game, but the damage was done.
Koji Uehara closed the door with a 1-2-3 inning to nail down his first career postseason save. The Sox will go for the sweep at Tropicana Field tomorrow.
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