Red Sox Vs. Indians: Boston Swept Again After Late Suicide Squeeze

In a Thursday matinee, the Boston Red Sox came up short yet again, falling to the Cleveland Indians by a 1-0 score and dropping to 0-6 for the first time since 1945.

One thing's for sure: today, it wasn't Jon Lester's fault. Lester rebounded from a miserable season opener by spinning seven scoreless frames, striking out nine Indians over that span. But the Red Sox lineup couldn't get anything going against Fausto Carmona or the Indians bullpen on a cold, gray day in Cleveland.

Carmona threw seven scoreless innings of his own, striking out four. Rafael Perez then put out a fire in the eighth, after which the Indians took the lead. Reliever Daniel Bard issued a leadoff walk to Adam Everett in the bottom half. Everett then stole second, and advanced to third on a sac bunt. With one out, Everett then scored on a suicide squeeze by Asdrubal Cabrera, as Cabrera laid a perfect bunt down the third base line that didn't give Kevin Youkilis a chance to make a play at home.

It was only one run, but it stood up. Chris Perez allowed a baserunner in the ninth, and J.D. Drew followed by grounding a ball that deflected off of Perez's body and bounced to third, but just when it seemed like Drew had himself an infield single to extend the inning, third baseman Everett noticed that pinch-runner Darnell McDonald had overrun second base and slipped, so Everett threw the ball to the bag, where the tag was applied. So the game ended in appropriately clumsy, frustrating fashion.

Cleveland moves to 4-2 with the sweep - it's first against Boston since 2001. The Indians now go on the road to Seattle, while the Red Sox go home for the first time to entertain the visiting Yankees. Surely the Fenway faithful will be reasonable in the way they greet their hometown heroes.