The sweep goes on as Red Sox hold off Tribe 6-3


Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit his 3rd home run of the season and Jon Lester pitched 7 strong innings as the Red Sox completed a 3-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians with a 6-3 win at Progressive Field. It was their 1st road sweep since late April 2012.

Saltalamachhia (pictured) connected off Cleveland starting pitcher Zach McAllister in the top of the 4th inning breaking a 1-1 tie.

Lester allowed 2 runs on 4 hits while striking out 5 and walking just 1. He threw 72 of his 115 pitches for strikes and improved his career record to 6-1 against the Indians. Andrew Bailey picked up his 2nd save in as many nights with a 1-2-3 9th inning.

Jacoby Ellsbury had 2 hits and scored a pair of runs; Daniel Nava drove in 2 runs with an RBI single and a sacrifice fly.

NOTES - Streaks alive! Dustin Pedroia's RBI single in the top of the 5th inning extended his streak of reaching base safely to 15 straight games and Ellsbury has hit in 8 straight games. * David Ortiz, who's expected to join the team Friday night when the team returns to Fenway, was 1-for-3 with a home run for AAA Pawtucket on Thursday. * Old friend Mike Aviles had an RBI double and scored a run for Cleveland.

Follow Jim Monaghan on twitter - @Monaghan21