Projo Sox Blog

BALTIMORE _ The Red Sox wasted little time settling back into the American League.

After going 4-2 against the Nationals and Braves as interleague games concluded for 2009, Boston arrived at Camden Yards ready for an A.L. opponent and dismissed the Orioles, 4-0.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona decided to tweak the top of his batting order just a bit, and it worked. He replaced Dustin Pedroia in the leadoff spot with J.D. Drew and dropped the second baseman to the No. 2 in the order.

Drew lead off with a triple and scored on Pedroia's RBI single for a quick 1-0 lead. After Jason Varitek drove in the Sox' second run with a RBI single in the fourth inning, Drew later provided a two-run homer to deep right field to give Boston a 4-0 advantage.

That's all the Sox needed offensively.

Jon Lester did the rest.

The left-hander worked seven scoreless innings and allowed only five hits with eight strikeouts to improve to 7-6 in 16 starts.

Drew finished the night 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI.

Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon entered the game in the bottom of the ninth with two runners on and two outs to record his 19th save of the season. With the save, he also ties Bob Stanley for the franchise record in that category with 132.

 Tags  Dustin Pedroia J.D. Drew Jon Lester Terry Francona

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