October 28, 2013: Red Sox 5 Nationals 4 (Red Sox lead World Series, 3-2)

The Red Sox are one win away from a world championship following a 5-4 win over the Nationals in game 5. The Red Sox struck early with 3 runs in the 1st, led by doubles from Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Napoli, and a huge 2 RBI single from Daniel Nava. Napoli made it 4-0 with a solo homer in the 4th.

Clay Buchholz was cruising along but then the wheels came off in the 6th, allowing 4 runs on 4 hits and a walk. Ian Desmond's 2 RBI double ended the day for Buchholz, but Craig Breslow was able to get Adam Laroche to line out with the go ahead run on 2nd to end the inning tied at 4.

In the bottom of the 6th, the Sox struck back with a double from Napoli, a single from Nava, and a double from Jarrod Saltalamacchia that made it 5-4 Sox. Junichi Tazawa struck out Ryan Zimmerman with the tying run on 3rd to end the 7th, survived the 8th, and gave to ball to Koji Uehara for the 1-2-3 9th.

Game 6 returns to Washington, where Gio Gonzalez will face Jake Peavy. If Game 7 is necessary, Stephen Strasburg hosts Jon Lester.

The hot series from Mike Napoli and the lefty starter Gonzalez probably means that David Ortiz sits to start in the NL park.

BOXSCORE: 2013 Washington Nationals At 2013 Boston Red Sox         10/28/2013
 
  Nationals          AB  R  H RBI AVG     Red Sox            AB  R  H RBI AVG
  D.Span CF           5  1  2  0 .161     J.Ellsbury CF       4  1  1  0 .224  
  R.Zimmerman 3B      3  1  2  1 .295     S.Victorino RF      4  0  0  0 .286  
  J.Werth RF          4  0  0  1 .259     D.Pedroia 2B        4  0  0  1 .275  
  B.Harper LF         3  1  0  0 .300     D.Ortiz DH          4  1  1  0 .254  
  I.Desmond SS        4  0  2  2 .340     M.Napoli 1B         4  3  3  1 .345  
  A.Laroche 1B        4  0  1  0 .239     D.Nava LF           4  0  3  2 .339  
  W.Ramos C           4  0  0  0 .236     J.Saltalamacchia C  4  0  1  1 .295  
  C.Tracy DH          4  0  2  0 .267     S.Drew SS           3  0  0  0 .317  
  A.Rendon 2B         4  1  1  0 .200     X.Bogaerts 3B       2  0  0  0 .154  
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      
         Totals      35  4 10  4                 Totals      33  5  9  5
 
 
Nationals....... 0 0 0  0 0 4  0 0 0  -  4 10  1
Red Sox......... 3 0 0  1 0 1  0 0    -  5  9  0
 
Nationals (9-6)          IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA
J.Zimmermann LOSS(2-2)    5 1/3   9   5   5   1   3   1  92   5.96
F.Abad                    1 2/3   0   0   0   1   0   0  14   3.38
T.Roark                   1       0   0   0   0   1   0  15   7.36
Totals                    8       9   5   5   2   4   1
 
Red Sox (10-7)           IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA
C.Buchholz                5 2/3   6   4   4   2   1   0  87   3.69
C.Breslow WIN(2-0)        0 1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   5   6.23
F.Morales HOLD(1st)       0 2/3   2   0   0   0   1   0  13   1.35
J.Tazawa HOLD(2nd)        1 1/3   2   0   0   0   2   0  18   4.50
K.Uehara SAVE(4th)        1       0   0   0   0   1   0   5   0.00
Totals                    9      10   4   4   2   5   0
 
ATTENDANCE- 34,289 DATE- Monday, October 28th 2013 TIME- Night WEATHER- Good
UMPIRES- Tim Welke, Mike Everitt, Bruce Dreckman, Dan Bellino
T- 2:53
LEFT ON BASE- Nationals: 6  Red Sox: 6
DOUBLE PLAYS- Nationals: 1  Red Sox: 2
ERRORS- I.Desmond
DOUBLES- D.Span(5th), I.Desmond(2nd), J.Ellsbury(3rd), M.Napoli-2(6th),
         D.Nava(4th), J.Saltalamacchia(8th)
HOME RUNS- M.Napoli(1st)
RBIs- R.Zimmerman(3rd), J.Werth(4th), I.Desmond-2(7th), D.Pedroia(8th),
      M.Napoli(4th), D.Nava-2(7th), J.Saltalamacchia(8th)
WALKS- R.Zimmerman, B.Harper, S.Drew, X.Bogaerts
STRIKE OUTS- D.Span-2, R.Zimmerman, W.Ramos, C.Tracy, D.Ortiz,
             J.Saltalamacchia-3
GIDP- J.Werth-2, J.Ellsbury
WILD PITCHES- J.Zimmermann
2-out RBI- D.Nava-2, I.Desmond-2
RLISP 2-out- B.Harper, X.Bogaerts, A.Laroche, J.Ellsbury-2, R.Zimmerman,
             W.Ramos-2
TEAM RISP- Nationals: 2 for 9  Red Sox: 3 for 10
WEB GEMS- Bot 1st: Anthony Rendon robbed Dustin Pedroia of a base hit.
 
The Boston Red Sox edged the Washington Nationals at Fenway Park by the score
of 5 to 4.
 
Washington was unable to claim the lead after Boston went ahead in the bottom
of the 6th inning scoring a single run on 3 base hits.  Boston took care of
Washington with no trouble in the 9th.  
 
The win was credited to Craig Breslow(2-0) who went 1/3 of an inning allowing
no runs. Koji Uehara recorded the save, his 4th.  Jordan Zimmermann(2-2) took
the loss.  He gave up 5 runs and 9 hits in 5 and 1/3 innings.