The Red Sox finished off a four-game sweep of the Houston Astros with a 6-1 win Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park. Boston outscored Houston 28-10 in the series and recorded 41 total hits in the four games, 22 for extra bases. The win improves the Red Sox record to 18-7, tying the franchise record for the most wins in the month of April.
John Lackey led the way, making his first start since suffering a bicep injury in Toronto during his first start of the season and also his first home start since Tommy John surgery. Lackey was placed on the DL and made one rehab start before today. He went six innings and allowed one run on five hits and struck out four, picking up his first win of the season.
Clayton Mortensen, Koji Uehara and Andrew Bailey pitched three scoreless innings of relief to preserve the win.
The hit-brigade for the Red Sox in the series continued with an 11-hit attack Sunday. Daniel Nava, David Ortiz (2 RBIs) and Mike Carp (RBI) each had two hits leading the way for the Sox. Stephen Drew also added a two-run triple, his second of the year in the win.
The Red Sox will be off on Monday before a three-game series in Toronto beginning Tuesday night (7:07, NESN).
What they’ll be saying: Even though they faced the struggling Astros, the four-game sweep was pretty impressive especially all the hits the Red Sox piled up over the course of the four games, including a season-high 17 Friday night … Lackey looked very good in his first home start in more than two years. After giving up a run in the first he settled in nicely retiring 13 straight at one point, before getting out of a bases loaded jam in his last inning. The right-hander also looked comfortable on the mound, not showing any concern about a possible re-injury to the bicep or the elbow.
