Aviles Goes Deja Boom & Sox Beat Phils 5-1

Mike Aviles hit a home run to lead off the game for the 2nd time in as many days, to help lead the Red Sox to a 5-1 win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. For Aviles it was his 8th home run of the season and his 21st extra base hit.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia added a 3-run blast in the top of the 3rd inning for his 7th of the season.

With the win Josh Beckett evened his record at 4-4 and his ERA dropped from 4.97 to 4.38. He pitched 7.2 innings and allowed just 1 run on 7 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5.

With the win, the Red Sox picked up a game in the standings on Baltimore, Tampa, Toronto, and New York who all lost on Sunday.

NOTES - Mike Aviles has now hit in 9 straight games with 10 hits in his last 23 at bats. He has 7 extra base hits during this streak. You would have to go back to Harry Hooper in 1913 to find the last Red Sox hitter to hit leadoff home runs in consecutive games.

Boston has now won 8 of their last 10 games and are getting a nice combination of good pitching from both the starters and the bullpen.

With the loss, Cliff Lee is now 3-5 lifetime against the Red Sox in 12 career starts.

For all the concern about how David Ortiz would play at first bases, he made a trio of nice plays on Sunday. Perhaps it's related to the off-season weight loss, but he's shown a lot more athleticism this season in the field and on the basepaths.

With the outfield corps a little thin (Cody Ross - left foot, Ryan Sweeney - whiplash & possible concussion) the Red Sox called up Che-Hsaun Lin from Pawtucket. Lin came into the game in the 8th inning when Adrian Gonzalez moved from right field to first base in place of Ortiz.