Boston Red Sox ease past Philadelphia Phillies 5-1 – MLB Update
Boston Red Sox continued to show signs of improvement as they eased past Philadelphia Phillies 5-1 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Sunday, May 20 in the finale of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Mike Aviles, once again, played a crucial role in deciding the outcome of the game as he homered to left in the first to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. Aviles continued to have great time on the plate and he singled to shallow left in the second to double Boston’s advantage to 2-0.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a towering three run home run to centre in the third to give the Red Sox complete control of the contest. The Phillies had plenty of scoring opportunities in the closing stages but they managed to score just one run, thanks to a sacrifice fly hit by Juan Pierre in the eighth.
"I was making pitches when I needed to and the defense was unbelievable, everybody contributed," starting pitcher Josh Beckett said. "I was keeping the ball down and I threw a few changeups, or I got ground balls. It's nice to keep the ball in this ballpark."
"His stuff was really moving today," Boston manager Bobby Valentine said of Beckett in a post game interview. "He was aggressive in the strike zone and he looked like he wanted it."
Bobby Valentine and company have given some incredible results over the last few weeks. They were 18-12 not too long ago but with their win against the Phillies on Sunday’s evening, they improved their record to 20-21. It will be exciting to see if Boston can carry their excellent form into the next month to get over the .500 win percentage mark before the All Star Break.
Phillies will be disappointed to lose the series after outplaying their opponents in the opening game. However, despite having the home crowd support working in their favour, they were unable to deliver the goods in the last two games. Considering their bench strength, they are expected to bounce back strongly in their next series.
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