There is the quick update of the day.

If anybody needs tickets to games, remember to click the tickets link at the top.

What do you guys think about this.

The Boston Red Sox and New York
Yankees remain one game apart for the American League East
title after both were crushed last night by teams near the
bottom of the league’s rankings. The Red Sox fell 15-4 to the
Oakland Athletics while the Baltimore Orioles spanked the
Yankees 12-5.

Hurricane Irene, which is battering the East Coast as it
moves through the mid-Atlantic today and into New England
tonight, forced the Yankees to cancel today’s doubleheader
against the Orioles. One game will be played tomorrow in a
doubleheader at Camden Yards, while the second is scheduled for
Sept. 8.

The Boston Red Sox canceled tomorrow’s home game, and will
instead play a doubleheader today.

At Fenway Park in Boston, Scott Sizemore drilled a two-run
homer and Josh Willingham added a second in Oakland’s six-run
fourth inning as the Athletics took an 8-1 lead last night at
Fenway Park in Boston. Five Athletics blasted doubles.

Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz hit back-to-back home runs
in the bottom of the fourth for Boston (80-51).

At Camden Yards in Baltimore, A.J. Burnett (9-11) gave up
nine hits and nine runs in five innings to the Orioles, who are
at the bottom of the five-team AL East division.

Mark Reynolds, J.J. Hardy and Matt Wieters hit home runs
for the Orioles, who had a 7-0 lead by the fourth inning.

Jorge Posada put the Yankees’ first run on the board with a
home run in the fifth, followed by homers by Alex Rodriguez and
Nick Swisher in the seventh.

Robinson Cano extended his hitting streak to 17 games with
a single in the seventh inning.

The Yankees (78-51) trail the Red Sox by a game, with the
Orioles (52-77) 27 games off the lead. Oakland (60-71) is three
games ahead of cellar-dwelling Seattle in the four-team American
League West.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Nancy Kercheval in Washington at
nkercheval@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Sillup at
msillup@bloomberg.net

Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news.

Leave any suggestions in the comment box.

MLB

Posted: June 6
Updated: Today at 10:24 PM

Crawford, Gonzalez hit homers to lead Boston past Oakland

The Associated Press

BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox managed to preserve this big lead.

Carl Crawford hit a three-run homer and Adrian Gonzalez added a two-run shot, powering John Lackey and the Red Sox to a 6-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday.

After blowing a four-run lead in the ninth the day before and needing 14 innings to win, the Red Sox welcomed the wire-to-wire victory that completed a three-game sweep of the A’s.

“When you score first and you score more than one, that’s a good formula for winning,” manager Terry Francona said.

It didn’t work Saturday when Boston carried a 7-3 lead into the ninth and blew it before winning the game in 5 hours, 17 minutes. Sunday’s victory was quick and clean, keyed by Crawford’s drive in the second and Gonzalez’s shot in the fourth.

That was plenty of offense for Lackey (3-5), who was coming off a stint on the disabled list with a strained elbow. The right-hander gave up three runs and three hits, walked two and hit three batters in 5 2-3 innings.

“He had better velocity on his fastball. The ball was coming out better,” catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia said. “Early he cut a few that you could kind of tell he was a little rusty, but for the most part his cutter was back to where I remember it being.”

Saltalamacchia and David Ortiz had three hits apiece, accounting for half of Boston’s dozen on Sunday. Saltalamacchia finished the day with his second career triple, lumbering around the bases before making an exhausted dive into third in the eighth.

Boston swept the A’s to salvage a split of a six-game homestand that started with three losses to the White Sox.

Matt Albers, Tommy Hottovy and Dan Wheeler combined for 2 1-3 innings of two-hit ball before Daniel Bard worked the ninth for his first save of the season — one day after regular closer Jonathan Papelbon blew a save opportunity and was ejected in the ninth inning of Boston’s 9-8 victory.

Kevin Kouzmanoff homered for the Athletics, who have lost six straight. Brett Anderson (3-6) allowed five runs and nine hits in five innings.

“Today was pretty much terrible. It’s pretty much as bad a job as I can do,” Anderson said. “My stuff was pretty bad. I need to get my breaking ball to where it was. It’s kind of rolling in there.

Boston now heads to New York for a three-game series with the first-place Yankees beginning on Tuesday.

The Red Sox got off to a fast start Sunday behind Crawford, who hit his fifth homer after David Ortiz and Jed Lowrie started the second inning with consecutive singles.

It was Crawford’s first homer at Fenway Park as a member of the Red Sox.

“I was starting to wonder for a while, you know,” he said.

Kouzmanoff led off the third with his fourth homer and Daric Barton added a run-scoring single in the fourth, but Boston responded in the bottom half.

Gonzalez’s drive into the Green Monster seats above left field made it 5-2 and gave him 50 RBIs just 59 games into the season. It was the second homer in as many games for the big first baseman, who has 12 for the season after hitting just one in his first month with the Red Sox.

Lackey had some control problems in his first start since May 11. His last hit batter was Conor Jackson, who stole second and scored when Barton doubled off Albers to get Oakland within two in the sixth.

But Francona wasn’t worried about the hit batters after watching Lackey’s return, which ended after 93 pitches.

After a stint on the 15-day disabled list, that was as far as Francona wanted to push his starter.

“Lack knows how to pitch,” Francona said. “We didn’t want to undo what we had done the past few weeks.”

Fautino De Los Santos, who struck out the only batter he faced in his major league debut on Saturday, had a more difficult time in his second appearance. Jacoby Ellsbury singled off De Los Santos with one out in the sixth, then advanced on two wild pitches and scored on Dustin Pedroia’s single to left.

That put Boston up 6-3 and the bullpen held it, something it failed to do the day before when Oakland erased a 7-3 deficit in the ninth.

The A’s East Coast tour that started with three wins in Baltimore ended with consecutive sweeps in New York and Boston.

“We swung the bats better this series,” second baseman Mark Ellis said. “We ran into a couple of good teams and they beat us up pretty good.”

Notes: Francona said before the game that Clay Buchholz has been pushed back in the rotation in order to give his back some more rest. Tim Wakefield with take Buchholz’s spot on Wednesday against the Yankees and Buchholz will start Friday at Toronto. … Oakland manager Bob Geren gave slumping DH Hideki Matsui the day off. Matsui broke a career-worst 0-for-19 slump with an 11th-inning single Saturday. … The Red Sox last swept the A’s in August 2008.

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BOSTON, MA – JUNE 03: Carl Crawford #13 of the Boston Red Sox hits a 2 RBI single in the seventh inning as Kurt Suzuki #8 of the Oakland Athletics defends on June 3, 2011 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

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CBSSports.com wire reports
May 30, 2011

BOSTON — Jake Peavy said he struggled throughout this start. The results certainly didn’t show it.

Peavy, making just his fourth start after working back from season-ending shoulder surgery last July, scratched through seven solid innings to help the Chicago White Sox rebound from a pair of tough losses with a 7-3 win over the Boston Red Sox on Monday night.

“It was just a grind. I really had nothing,” Peavy said after his 112-pitch effort of the eve of his 30th birthday. “A start like that can make or break your season. I think my arm’s still getting stronger on a daily basis.”

Alexei Ramirez and Carlos Quentin each had a pair of RBI in a four-run sixth inning as the Chicago White Sox snapped Jon Lester’s seven-game winning streak.

Chicago lost at Toronto in 14 innings on Saturday and 13-4 on Sunday. The White Sox won for the fifth straight time at Fenway Park, the first time they’ve done that since 1982.

“We did a great job,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “We had one the best lefties on the mound and made him through [a lot] of pitches.”

But it was Peavy, the 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner, that was able to work his way through a challenging lineup on a night that he didn’t feel right from the beginning.

“I think I’m going to have to alter my program on the day’s I pitch, throw a little longer to see if I can get loose,” he said. “I kind of felt looser as we got later in the game.”

Paul Konerko added a solo homer for the White Sox, who halted a three-game losing skid and won for the 11th time in their last 13 games against the Red Sox.

Adrian Gonzalez hit a solo homer for Boston, which lost its second straight but only its fourth in its last 17 games.

Peavy (2-0) held Boston to three runs, six hits, striking out two and not walking anyone.

Jesse Crain got two outs, but was hit on the side by Gonzalez’s hard grounder, and Matt Thornton recorded the final four outs.

With the score tied at 3 in the sixth, Chicago chased Lester (7-2) with four runs. Alex Rios and Gordon Beckham, back in the lineup after missing the previous two games after getting hit below the left eye with a relay throw, singled. Juan Pierre walked to load the bases before Ramirez’s bloop fell in behind first baseman Gonzalez for a two-run double. Dan Wheeler relieved and Quentin singled in two more, making it 7-3.

Right-handed hitting Ramirez said through a translator that he was surprised that Lester, a lefty, faced him with Wheeler, a right-hander, throwing in the bullpen.

Lester gave up seven runs, eight hits, walked and struck out four apiece in 5 2/3 innings, halting his eight-game unbeaten stretch. He gave up eight runs in his only career start against the White Sox last season.

Lester didn’t look sharp at the start either, allowing a pair of runs in the first as he struggled with his control.

“He was scattering a lot of pitches,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said.

Lester agreed that he was fighting with his control.

“It was just one of those nights where I just battled myself and couldn’t get in a rhythm,” he said. “The ball was up. When I actually did throw it over the plate, it was up.”

Chicago had increased its lead to 3-1 in the third when Konerko homered off an advertisement above the Green Monster seats before Boston tied it with two runs in the bottom of the inning. It was his 376th career homer, tying him for 66th all-time with former White Sox and Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk, who was in Fenway Park and shown on the center field video board as a one of Boston’s legends.

Dustin Pedroia’s two-run single tied the game. The former AL MVP had been just 3 for 30 with three RBI with runners in scoring position and less than two outs.

The White Sox had grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first. Ramirez singled and Quentin was hit by a pitch, the first of two times that Lester hit him in the game. After Konerko singled to load the bases, A.J. Pierzynski drove in a pair with a single up the middle.

Gonzalez homered into the White Sox bullpen to cut it to 2-1 in the bottom of the inning.

“I was telling everybody in the world about Adrian,” Peavy said about his former teammate in San Diego.

Notes

• Quentin entered the game with nine hit by pitches, leading the AL.
• White Sox DH/1B Adam Dunn , hitless in 38 at-bats against left-handed pitching this season, was taken out of the lineup against lefty Lester. But Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen was sticking by him. “I know he’s had a tough year,” Guillen said. “I hope he’s not thinking, ‘They paid me all this money.’ I talked to him in Toronto and told him don’t worry about it. As long as he’s healthy he’s going to be in the lineup.” Dunn signed a $56-million, four-year contract as a free agent during the offseason.
• Boston manager Terry Francona said RHP Bobby Jenks , who made his second rehab appearance with Triple-A Pawtucket on Sunday, is expected to be activated off the 15-day DL Tuesday. He was sidelined with a right biceps strain.
• rancona also said Red Sox LHP reliever Franklin Morales , acquired from Colorado on May 19, had an MRI Monday on his strained left forearm.
• Guillen switched Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s starters. Gavin Floyd , who took the loss in relief of Saturday’s 14-inning game in Toronto, will now go in Wednesday’s series finale. Phil Humber was moved up to Tuesday.

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David Ortiz(notes) has been steadily producing all month, and both of the Boston
Red Sox’s big offseason acquisitions have joined him.

With Ortiz in the midst of a hitting streak, Adrian Gonzalez(notes) thriving and
Carl Crawford(notes) coming around, the red-hot Red Sox open a four-game road set with
the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.

Boston’s 0-6 start seems like a distant memory, as the club has won 10 of 12
while outscoring opponents 74-41. The Red Sox (27-22) pounded Cleveland 14-2 on
Wednesday, scoring seven runs in the first inning.

Gonzalez had two hits and is 14 for 28 over his last six games, while
Crawford went 4 for 4 and hit his second homer in three days.

“I definitely feel better than I did before,” said Crawford, batting .308 in
May after hitting .155 in April. “It feels nice to contribute to a game where
everyone contributes.”

Ortiz continued his torrid pace this month, going 2 for 6 and hitting his
eighth home run in May. He is batting .406 with three homers during a
season-best seven-game hit streak.

Ortiz has batted .375 with four home runs and 14 RBIs in his last eight
games against Detroit (25-23). Two of those homers came off Max Scherzer(notes) (6-1,
2.98) last season.

Scherzer allowed three runs in 5 2-3 innings and suffered a 6-2 loss at
Pittsburgh on Saturday. The right-hander had given up two earned runs in his
three previous starts combined.

Scherzer looks to get back on track at Comerica Park, where he is 3-0 with a
0.77 ERA in five starts this season. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in the last
three, a span of 23 innings.

Scherzer’s two career starts against the Red Sox came last season. He gave
up six runs in five innings of a 7-2 home loss last May 14, and the Tigers sent
him to Triple-A the next day to work out mechanical issues.

Scherzer bounced back to pitch 6 1-3 innings of one-run ball in a 5-4 defeat
at Fenway Park on July 31, and didn’t get the decision. He has gone 17-8 with a
2.61 ERA in 33 starts since that first outing versus Boston.

While Ortiz has excelled against Scherzer, Gonzalez is 1 for 7 while
Crawford has gone hitless in five at-bats.

The Tigers, winners of three straight overall and seven of eight at home,
had Wednesday’s series finale against visiting Tampa Bay postponed due to rain.

Detroit has scored 13 runs in its last two games and will look to continue
its hot hitting against Alfredo Aceves(notes) (1-0, 2.42).

The right-hander, moved into the rotation due to injuries to John Lackey(notes) and
Daisuke Matsuzaka(notes), held the Chicago Cubs to one run and three hits over five
innings Saturday in his first start of the season. He didn’t get the decision in
the 9-3 loss.

“I felt comfortable with my body,” Aceves, who missed most of last season
with the New York Yankees due to injury, told MLB.com. “I walked two guys and I
hit two, so you don’t want that.”

Red Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis(notes) sat out Wednesday with a sore left hand
but is likely to be back in the lineup for this game.

The Tigers have lost four straight to Boston, most recently dropping two
meetings at Fenway Park last week. They had lost seven of eight at home to the
Red Sox before taking the two most recent matchups there.

What do you guys think about this.

By Rob Neyer

– National Baseball Editor

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May 23, 2011 – Friday night, the Boston Red Sox hosted the Chicago Cubs in Fenway Park for the first time since 1918.

Saturday evening, the Red Sox and Cubs celebrated their second meeting since ’18 by donning “throwback” uniforms that weren’t precisely accurate. But there wasn’t anybody in Fenway Park old enough to remember the originals and complain.

Sunday night, the Red Sox and Cubs just played a baseball game. It was cold in Boston — 49 degrees at game time — but otherwise it was just another game between two of the more storied franchises in the history of professional sports. And a rather routine game, at that, with the Red Sox pulling away for a 5-1 victory in the rubber match of the three-game set.

With originally scheduled starter Matt Garza sidelined with an elbow injury, Cubs manager Mike Quade turned to James Russell, who posted a 10.05 in four starts earlier this season. Russell — whose father Jeff pitched for the Red Sox in 1993 and ’94 — fared somewhat better Sunday night, limiting the Red Sox to one run through four innings. But after Jarrod Saltalamacchia led off the fifth with a homer into the Monster Seats and Jacoby Ellsbury followed with a base hit, Russell — who had thrown 39 pitches out of the bullpen in Friday night’s game, and before that hadn’t thrown more than 15 pitches in a game since the 2nd of May — was finally pulled in favor of reliever Justin Berg, recalled earlier Sunday from Triple-A Iowa.

Meanwhile, Tim Wakefield was pitching a gem. Through six innings, the 44-year-old knuckleballer gave up only two hits, the only other baserunner reaching on a strike-three knuckleball that eluded Saltalamacchia behind the plate. But Starlin Castro led off the seventh with a double into the left-field corner, and scored two outs later when Jeff Baker rattled a double off the Green Monster’s scoreboard. Daniel Bard was summoned to replace Wakefield, and escaped the inning with no more damage.

The Cubs’ mini-rally made the score 3-1, but their little outburst was mooted in the bottom of the seventh by Kevin Youkilis’s two-out triple that pushed the score to 5-1, and Bard set down the Cubs in order in the eighth.

In the bottom of the eighth, things got old-school for a few moments. Jed Lowrie led off against Kerry Wood, whose first pitch was well inside, waist-high. Wood’s second pitch was also waist-high, but far enough inside to catch Lowrie flush on the right buttock. Plate umpire Ed Hickox immediately warned both benches, and there was speculation in the broadcast booth about Wood sending a message in the wake of Marlon Byrd’s beaning Saturday night.

Two Cubs had actually been plunked Saturday, and just one Red Sock (Youkilis). So Lowrie balanced the scale, took his free (if painful) base without incident, and that seemed to be the end of that.

Despite the Red Sox’ four-run lead, Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth. He retired Darwin Barney on a grounder and struck out Starlin Castro, but Aramis Ramirez kept the inning going with a double into right-center. Papelbon ended the (mild) suspense by striking out Carlos Pena with a diving splitter.

Wakefield earned his first victory of the season, his 180th with the Red Sox, and his 194th in the major leagues.

For more about the Red Sox and Cubs, please visit Over the Monster and Bleed Cubbie Blue.

Read More: Tim Wakefield (P – BOS), Jeff Baker (3B – CHC), Jed Lowrie (2B – BOS), James Russell (P – CHC), Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs

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Updated May 23, 2011 1:32 AM ET

BOSTON (AP)

Chicago Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd was released from the hospital and back at Fenway Park after being placed on the 15-day disabled list with multiple facial fractures on Sunday, his left eye blackened and swollen nearly shut but his vision improved one day after being hit in the face with by a fastball.

”An inch to the right or left and it might have been right in my eye. As long as I have my sight,” he told reporters after the Cubs lost 5-1 to the Boston Red Sox. ”I’m very lucky that it’s only a fracture. I thought it might have been worse. My first thought was that I didn’t know what was going on. Once I started getting my sight back, it was OK.”

Tim Wakefield held Chicago to four hits in 6 2-3 innings to help Boston beat the Cubs in their first visit to Fenway Park since the 1918 World Series. It was Wakefield’s first win of the season and the 180th of his Red Sox career – third on the franchise all-time list behind only Roger Clemens and Cy Young.

”Boy, he was really good,” Boston manager Terry Francona said. ”I guess it shouldn’t amaze me because he’s been doing that for such a long time.”

Adrian Gonzalez had four hits as Boston took two out of three from Chicago. The Red Sox have now won eight of their last nine overall to all but erase the damage of their awful April and move one-half game behind the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.

Making his third start of the season, this one because of injuries to John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka, Wakefield (1-1) had faced the minimum number of batters when he struck out Jeff Baker with what would have been the third out of the fifth inning.

Baker reached safely when the ball got past catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. That was just the third baserunner in the first six innings against Wakefield.

”When you’re asked to do a job and you do it well – I take a lot of pride in that,” said Wakefield, who needs 12 more wins to tie Clemens and Young at 192 in a Boston uniform.

Wakefield gave up a pair of doubles in the seventh for Chicago’s only run, struck out three and walked none before leaving with two out in the seventh.

”We just couldn’t solve Wakefield,” Cubs manager Mike Quade said. ”He’s been a wonderful guy for this organization for I don’t know how many years. I’ve lost track. He can pitch out of the bullpen almost every day, start. His knuckleball is good; you’ve got to give him credit. I wish we had not allowed him to have a good night.”

James Russell (1-5) was also filling in, because Matt Garza was scratched with right elbow stiffness. He allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk, striking out two in four-plus innings.

Saltalamacchia homered for the third time in the last four games he’s played. Gonzalez went 10 for 15 in the series, which brought the Cubs back to Fenway for the first time since they lost the 1918 Series in six games.

First baseman Carlos Pena, who visited Byrd in the hospital after Saturday night’s game, said his teammate was sitting up in bed, with two pizzas on his lap.

”He’s doing well. He’s a tough kid,” Pena said. ”Thank God. I’m so relieved to see him conscious.”

Byrd was struck by a fastball on the left side of his head near the ear flap on a 1-2 pitch from Aceves. The Cubs center fielder crumpled onto his back, kicked his legs in the air then quickly got up holding his hand to his face, which had a cut near the left cheekbone.

He walked to the dugout on his own and down the stairs toward the clubhouse.

”When you see an injury like that, hits you in the face, a fastball – you want to be optimistic,” Pena said. ”When he was walking off the field, he said, ‘I can’t see. My left eye.’ … It was scary. When you hear a crowd make a certain noise. It’s something you can’t explain. You fear the worse for your friend.”

Cubs spokesman Peter Chase said Byrd is expected to be re-evaluated this week in Chicago and it’s uncertain how long he’ll be sidelined.

”The heck with baseball. I’m more concerned with the person’s health,” Quade said. ”He’ll get ready when he’s ready.”

Aceves said he had tried to contact Byrd; Byrd said he did not think the pitch was intentional.

NOTES: Ortiz’s 300th home run on Saturday night was caught by CNN anchor John King in the Monster Seats and exchanged for a signed bat. … Russell had been 0-4 with a 10.05 ERA in his previous four starts this season. … It was military appreciation night for the Red Sox. Members of the armed services ringed the infield for the national anthem, and Marine Reservist Sergeant Terrence S. Burke, who has a prosthetic leg, ran around the bases before the game and was greeted at home plate by players. … Kerry Wood was warned after hitting Lowrie in the eighth. … Baker left the game with a groin strain and will be re-evaluated on Tuesday.

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Reed Johnson #5 of the Chicago Cubs gets past Jason Varitek #33 of the Boston Red Sox to score in the eighth inning on May 21, 2011 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. Tonight the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox are wearing replica uniforms from 1918. Before this series, the two teams haven’t played at Fenway Park since the 1918 World Series. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

BOSTON (AP) – The Boston Red Sox should just throw away those throwback uniforms. And they should toss the tape of the eighth inning along with them.

Three Boston errors were the low points of an eight-run Chicago eighth inning as the Red Sox fell 9-3 to the Cubs on Saturday
night.

“It got a little bit ugly,” Boston manager Terry Francona said after his team’s 3-1 lead was wiped away.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030?s Jonny Miller spoke to Francona after the game:

On one play during the inning, the Red Sox, wearing their 1918 throwbacks, threw the ball around it seemed like 19 or 18 times.

After the Cubs had taken a 6-3 lead in the eighth, Boston had Alfonso Soriano caught in a run down between third and home after a
fly ball to right. Catcher Jason Varitek caught the ball from right fielder J. D. Drew and threw to third, but it trickled into left
off Kevin Youkilis’ glove.

Soriano raced home and Jeff Baker, who had doubled on the play, came home when Carl Crawford’s wild throw rolled under the glove of reliever Franklin Morales, covering the plate, and past first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who was backing up, to make it 8-3.

Youkilis and Crawford were charged with errors on the play.

Earlier in the inning, shortstop Jed Lowrie dropped a short pop up, allowing a run to score.

Reed Johnson’s go-ahead, two-run double keyed the big inning against Matt Albers (0-2), who didn’t retire a batter, giving up
six runs and walking a pair in the eighth.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030?s Jonny Miller spoke to Albers after the game:

So much for the new — or, old — look. The loss snapped Boston’s season-high, seven-game winning streak.

“You give up a lead and it’s always frustrating,” Lowrie said. “We just had a bad inning got to forget.”

The Cubs’ last visit to 99-year-old Fenway Park before Friday night’s 15-5 loss was in the World Series 93 years ago. Chicago won the fifth game then, but Boston took the championship by winning Game 6.

The Red Sox had victory in sight again on Saturday before the eighth.

Johnson had entered the game as a pinch runner in the top of the second after Marlon Byrd was beaned. Byrd walked off under his own power.

The Red Sox spent about four hours in first place in the AL East when Tampa Bay lost to Florida 5-3. Their first stay at the top this season marked a stunning turnaround for a team that began the season at 2-10.

Then came the wild turn of events in the eighth that ended Boston’s winning streak.

Before then, Aramis Ramirez had given Chicago a 1-0 lead in the third with an RBI double. Boston went ahead on David Ortiz’s
two-run homer, his ninth of the year, after Youkilis led off the fourth with a single. Jacoby Ellsbury’s run-scoring single made it 3-1 in the sixth against Carlos Zambrano before Sean Marshall (2-0) came in to end the inning.

In came Albers, out went the lead.

Darwin Barney and Starlin Castro singled and Ramirez walked, loading the bases. Carlos Pena then walked in a run before Johnson doubled to left, putting the Cubs ahead to stay. Soriano followed with a popup to short left field where shortstop Lowrie let it bounce off his glove for an error as Pena scored.

Morales, obtained Thursday from Colorado, relieved Albers and his first pitch went for an RBI double by pinch-hitter Baker. Koyie
Hill struck out and Barney flew to right, where Drew’s catch was only the beginning of the bizarre play that made it 8-3.

Castro followed with an RBI double, making it 9-3.

The Red Sox throwback uniforms were an off-white color with no team name on the front. The Cubs wore grey uniforms with blue
pinstripes and the word “Cubs” on the left breast.

NOTES: RHP Matt Garza was scratched from his scheduled start in Sunday’s series finale with stiffness in his pitching elbow. Cubs manager Mike Quade indicated that lefty reliever James Russell was the leading candidate to start against Tim Wakefield. … Youkilis was hit by a pitch for the 72nd time, breaking a tie with Mo Vaughn for the Red Sox record. … Ortiz’s homer made him the fifth player to hit at least 300 with the Red Sox. The others are Ted Williams (521), Carl Yastrzemski (452), Jim Rice (382) and Dwight Evans (379). … Red Sox reliever Bobby Jenks is expected to throw his first bullpen session on Monday since going on the disabled list May 5 with a strained right biceps.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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