4 real? Four at bats that changed the game. Red Sox vs Astros 4-26-13

Game 23: Red Sox win 7-3

Ryan Dempster got the nod today, and he did not disappoint, striking out 10 in only 6 innings to pick up his first win of the season. The Red Sox have loved playing at home so far this season, and they hit four homeruns and smashed seventeen hits to beat a lesser Astros squad. The Astros entered today's game with an MLB-high 218 strikeouts, and the Red Sox pitchers entered the game with 218 strikeouts. While the game was pretty close until the end, it had the feeling that the Red Sox were much farther ahead than the score showed. Red Sox pitching made sure that the Astros did not tack on too many runs, and the Sox beat down Houston pitching to win the second game of the series. Here are the four at bats that changed the game:

1) Bottom of the second inning, and Houston pitcher Erik Bedard has been struggling early. Backup catcher David Ross comes to bat, and crushes a 1-2 fastball over the Green Monster to put the Red Sox up 2-0. See the homerun here.

2) Bottom of the forth inning, and the Red Sox hold a 3-1 lead. Will Middlebrooks leads off and takes a 3-2 pitch over the Green Monster. See Middlebrooks' homerun here. David Ross is next and he adds to the lead with another homerun over the Monster and the Sox go back to back to go up 5-1. See Ross' homerun here.

3) Top of the fifth inning, and the Astros are trying to mount a comeback. After scoring a run to make the score 5-2, the Astros have a man on with two out. Jason Castro comes to bat, and he lines a well hit ball to left field. Jonny Gomes runs it down and makes a superb diving catch to his right to save a run, end the inning and keep the lead.

4) Bottom of the fifth inning, and David Ortiz does what he does best. He swings at a 2-2 pitch and crushes in to straight away center field for his second homerun in as many days and the Red Sox now go up 6-2. See the bomb here.

The Red Sox did not look back and went on to win 7-3 to improve to 16-7 on the season. The Red Sox play Houston again tomorrow night at 7:10 pm with Felix Doubront facing Brad Peacock.

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