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Red Sox blank Angels, sweep four-game series

Apr 24, 2011 - 11:18 PM Anaheim, CA (Sports Network) - Carl Crawford notched his first home run of the season, Adrian Gonzalez had three hits and drove in two runs and the Boston Red Sox got a 7-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to sweep a four- game series.

John Lackey (2-2) was stellar in a scoreless eight-inning showing where he struck out six batters and allowed just six hits for Boston, which has won five straight and eight its last nine games overall.

"I felt good," Lackey said. "I was locating pitches. We scored runs early and that helped. Our rhythm was the best it's been. This is a great place to pitch at."

Peter Bourjos had two of the team's six hits for the Angles, who were also held scoreless in Saturday's 5-0 loss.

"We have a lot of guys in our lineup that are struggling," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We're a good team but we're not where we want to be offensively."

Angels starter Matt Palmer (1-1) was chased off the mound after allowing four runs on six hits in five-plus innings.

The visitors dominated right from the start getting key hits and solid pitching from Lackey.

Jacoby Ellsbury led off the first with a double. Two batters later, Gonzalez doubled in Ellsbury for the first score of the game. David Ortiz kept the rally going with a single to plate Gonzalez and Mike Cameron's force out sent Kevin Youkilis home for an early 3-0 lead.

The Red Sox tacked on a run in the fifth when Marco Scutaro -- who got on base with single -- crossed home on Dustin Pedroia's sacrifice fly to left field.

Crawford then ripped a two-run homer -- scoring Ortiz -- to give Boston a commanding 6-0 edge in the six. Scutaro scored again in the seventh on Gonzalez's single to make up the final score.

"It felt good," Crawford said about his first homer in a Boston uniform. "I hit the ball hard. I was just happy to see the ball go over the fence. I'm glad I'm able to do something to help the team."

While Boston's offense excelled, Lackey did his job to keep the Angels off the board. He bared down in the eighth stranding two runners with two fly balls. Dan Wheeler threw a perfect ninth to preserve the win and the sweep for the Red Sox.

Game Notes

Boston improved to 5-1 on a nine-game road trip and will finish out the trek in Baltimore...Lackey is 4-0 in four starts against his former team, the Angels. He threw 108 pitches, 73 for strikes...Boston has won 13 of the last 14 games against the two clubs.