Eddie Rodriguez’s unbelievable pitching was able to work with the Red Sox lineup for a 7-3 blowout.  The Red Sox had a huge 5 run rally, scoring first in the second inning.  The Sox are great when they score first, they just don’t do it too much.  Bogaerts singled, and Sandoval hit a monster double to center, stopping Bogaerts at third.  One more hit was enough to score.  The thing is, Mike Napoli was up next.  Guess who hit an RBI single right then?  That’s right, Napoli did.  Bogaerts and Sandoval scored, giving the Red Sox a secure 2-0 lead.  But they weren’t done.  De Aza walked.  1st and 2nd.  Swihart then hit an RBI double, and Napoli and De Aza scored to give the Sox a 4-0 lead.  With two outs, Betts knocked in one more run with his RBI single.  5-0 Red Sox after only two innings.

It was a quiet game, and Rodriguez had only given up two hits.  In the 5th inning, Ramirez’s solo shot added a run to the Sox’s lead.  In the 5th, Rodriguez gave up his first earned run, also his first on the road of his major league career.  Yup, that’s how good he can be in 4 starts.  Infante got safely to second on his hit, and Escobar knocked in a run by doing the same.  6-1 Red Sox.

In the 7th, the Sox struck again with their hottest hitters.  Holt walked, and Betts singled to make it 1st and 2nd, no outs.  Then they pulled off a double steal.  Holt stole third and Betts stole second on the same pitch.  Ramirez singled to drive Holt, but sadly not Betts, in.  7-1.

Aftergiving up his 6th hit, Ogando came in.  The relievers didn’t have as good of momentum.  Ogando was fine, finishing the inning, but Robbie Ross gave up a home run to Eric Hosmer in the 8th to make it 7-2.  In the 9th, Steven Wright gave up another run.  Colon, who had replaced Alcides Escobar, doubled and Mike Moustakas drove him in with a second double and it was 7-3.  But Wright finished the inning cleanly, and the Red Sox won 7-3.

If the lineup can stay hot, and pitching is at least okay, then I think the Sox have the power to at least partially turn it around.  Their lineup leads the MLB this month in hits, and they can score big bundles of runs at a time.  All year, they also have stayed at a good pace with home runs.  The Red Sox aren’t quite as bad as some people may think, but I wouldn’t call them a team in the wild card race either.  They still are at the bottom this month in my monthly power rankings, coming soon.