Daisuke Matsuzaka shines as Boston Red Sox defeat Los Angeles Angels 5-0 – MLB Update
Daisuke Matsuzaka put in a brilliant performance as the Boston Red Sox defeated Los Angeles Angels 5-0 at Angel Stadium, Anaheim on Saturday, April 23.
A combination of performances translated into this victory which included the contributions of Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kevin Youkilis. Matsuzaka did it with ball, as he outmaneuvered the Angels’ offence and allowed only one hit in eight innings that he pitched.
Youkilis homered which solidified the defence being protected by Matsuzaka.
The Red Sox opened their account with Carl Crawford providing a promising start. The first inning which went scoreless was compensated by Crawford who charged Ervin Santana. Crawford reached on infield single to short-stop where Jed Lowrie scored, making
it a 1-0 lead for Boston Sox. Matsuzaka was no doubt determined to maintain the lead.
Youkilis, who was himself exceptionally good with bat, was the first to express approval of Matsuzaka. "He threw the ball real well," said Youkilis. "It looked like those guys didn't feel comfortable at the plate. He was hitting his spots. When he goes out
there and throws strikes and it goes where he wants to, that's what he can do. It was good to see him come out and throw strikes and get ahead and make those batters not feel comfortable in the box."
Matsuzaka, while being intimidating on the pitch, kept cruising the whole night to even force the rival team’s manager to appreciate his solo performance. The Angels manager, Mike Scioscia expressed his appreciation and said, "He was in the zone. When you
get one hit, it's hard to drive up the pitch count. He was one step ahead. His best stuff was locating his fastball."
Adrian Gonzalez scored the second run in the third inning, as he hit a single to right where Jacoby Ellsbury scored. The Angels were left watching when Youkilis homered in the fifth inning, taking the lead to 4-0. Youkilis homered to right where Jacoby Ellsbury
scored and Matsuzaka kept unleashing his fastball with rapidly increasing velocity.
Jason Varitek scored the fifth run for the team in the sixth inning, taking the lead to a point where it would require a great deal of effort to bring down the gap, let alone victory. When Matsuzaka was replaced by Daniel Bard in the last inning, he made
sure that he provided no opportunity to the Angels to even open their account. His strategy worked out and the Angels were reduced to no score, making the fourth straight win for Boston 5-0.
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