A brisk contest through seven innings saw Matt Manning put together a strong six inning outing with just a J.D. Martinez solo shot allowed. Unfortunately, after scratching out an early run on a Miguel Cabrera sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first, the bats went quiet against Michael Wacha and the Boston Red Sox bullpen.
Relievers Alex Lange and Michael Fulmer did their part, with scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth, but the runs just weren’t on tap. That finally changed in the eighth. Austin Meadows led off the inning with a sharp single to right, off lefty Austin Davis no less, and that brought Javier Báez to the dish with a man on and no outs in a 1-1 game.