Empyreal Environs

The Marlins jumped to an early three-run lead when Daisuke Matsuzaka allowed a smattering of singles and steals in the first. He settled down to retire 14 Marlins in a row.

Cody Ross led the fourth off by getting hit by a pitch, but replay showed it was a call as bogus as all the foul calls against any player that comes within breathing distance of LeBron James. Carlos Zambrano figured he’d get his money’s worth and Jarrod Saltalamacchia took the ball off his tricep. Will Middlebrooks drove in Ross with a line drive single to right. Saltalamacchia advanced on Ryan Kalish’s ground out and scored on Mike Aviles’s fly ball to center.

Adrian Gonzalez carried the momentum into the fifth with a leadoff base on balls. David Ortiz flied out to left but Ross singled to the same area. Saltalamacchia could have given up when he tapped the ball to second baseman Omar Infante but turned on the turbo with Gonzalez in scoring position. The catcher beat out Jose Reyes’s throw to first with pure hustle, so instead of the inning-ending out there were runners at the corners with two down.

Middlebrooks continued his Wally Pipp-ment of Kevin Youkilis with a game-tying single blooped to right field.

Matsuzaka’s scoreless streak ended abruptly with Giancarlo Stanton’s home run in the sixth with none on and one out. Bobby Valentine pulled Matsuzaka in favor of Andrew Miller but Gregg Dobbs singled and was doubled in by Infante.

Once again Saltalamacchia came through, this time with a double to center. Middlebrooks clouted a home run to dead center to tie the score 5-5 while Youkilis thought about which furniture he would take with him to his next team.

Ryan Kalish singled with a grounder to right, which isn’t extraordinarily noteworthy except that he represented the go-ahead run. When Aviles knocked the ball towards first Kalish did something I’ve only seem teams do against the Red Sox: Kalish sprinted around second and took third on the ground out.

Daniel Nava may not stick in the lineup when Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford return but he hopefully opened enough eyes for another team to take a shot at starting him. He lined a single to center and the Red Sox swept a team for just the third time this season.

Game 69: June 21, 2012
Miami Marlins 33-36	5	H: Ryan Webb (6), Randy Choate (12) BS, L: Edward Mujica (3, 0-3)
		2B: Omar Infante (16) HR: Giancarlo Stanton (15)
Boston Red Sox 36-33	6	W: Scott Atchison (2-0) S: Alfredo Aceves (18)
		2B: Jarrod Saltalamacchia (13) HR: Will Middlebrooks (8)