Beckett rules the mound at home, Red Sox beat A's 5-2
10:21 PM Tue, Jul 07, 2009 | Permalink
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BOSTON -- For Josh Beckett, there's no place like home. The All-Star Sox ace is good everywhere, but he's downright nasty at home. He thrived again on the Fenway Park mound Wednesday night, pounding fastballs by the Oakland A's to lead Boston to a 5-2 win that kept Beckett undefeated at Fenway this year. The performance ran Beckett's home record to 5-0 with a 2.87 ERA in 53 2/3 innings. It was the 99th win of his career, and marked his fifth straight year of double-digit wins. Beckett allowed a first-inning home run to Scott Hairston, but cruised through the next three frames without much trouble. In the fifth, he allowed a pair of doubles, which produced Oakland's second run. He left after 6 2/3 innings, with two runners on base. Hideki Okajima cleaned up for Beckett, and Justin Masterson and Jonathan Papelbon finished up Boston's 50th victory of the year. The Red Sox offense gave Beckett more than enough support to cruise to his 10th win overall. The Sox chased overmatched Athletics pitcher Dana Eveland in the third inning as they moved out to a 4-1 lead. Eveland had been called up from Triple-A Sacramento for this start, and his performance Tuesday night won't keep him in the majors for long. Jason Bay started the Boston scoring by dropping a second-inning home run just over the Green Monster, his first homer since June 23. Nick Green grounded out with the bases loaded to bring home David Ortiz for the second Eveland run, and a two-run Jason Varitek single in the third inning sent Eveland to the showers. Boston added a run in the sixth on a Dustin Pedroia line-drive single to left center that drove in Jacoby Ellsbury (double, followed by a steal of third) from third base. Shortstop Nick Green made several excellent plays in the field through the course of the night, and fill-in third baseman Aaron Bates made some equally impressive scoops. But Bates, who made his major-league debut Monday, looked lost at the plate, striking out twice, walking, and grounding out. -- DANIEL BARBARISI 
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