Red Sox rebound, pound Angels to win series

BOSTON -- The Red Sox responded to their most lopsided home loss in 16 years by producing their best offensive showing in three weeks, outslugging the Angels, 10-5, on Sunday afternoon in the rubber match of a three-game series at Fenway Park.
Determined to shake off the indignity of Saturday's 21-2 loss in front of the Fenway faithful, Boston never trailed Sunday.
"Yeah, the great thing about coming right back the next day is we can turn the page and put it behind us," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "A good bounce-back win. A much-needed series win here at home particularly."

Sean O'Sullivan, in his return from Triple-A Pawtucket, provided the type of stable performance that Boston has lacked in the back of the rotation for weeks, holding the Angels to two runs over five-plus innings.
This gave the offense some time to get going, and that's exactly what happened when the Red Sox busted out with seven runs in the fifth and three more in the seventh.
All nine Red Sox starters had at least one hit, led by three by Hanley Ramirez and two from Dustin Pedroia, Jackie Bradley Jr., Brock Holt, Sandy Leon and Marco Hernandez.
"It was a day when we broke out finally, offensively with a big inning, particularly the number of two-out base hits," said Farrell. "Hanley with one of the big ones in that inning, an 0-2 double the other way for a couple RBIs. Sandy with a big double to spread it out a little more. And the way their offense was in the middle innings, we needed every run."
It was the first time the Red Sox scored double-digit runs since June 11 at Minnesota and the first time at Fenway since May 25 against the Rockies.
The Angels got four hits and two RBIs from Yunel Escobar and three hits and two runs scored from Andrelton Simmons, but Boston finally held C.J. Cron (8-for-11 in the first two games) hitless.

An even bigger issue were the three critical outs the Angels made on the bases in the first three innings, with Escobar thrown out at second, Mike Trout thrown out at third and Jett Bandy doubled off.
"It doesn't look good when you give up outs, and you want to adjust from that," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said, his team losing for the 11th time in the last 13 games. "But we're going to stay aggressive."

• Baserunning issues continue to plague Angels
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
JBJ's arm holds down Angels: Bradley made two outs with his arm in the early innings to help keep the Angels off the board. The first one was a curious baserunning decision by Escobar, who hit what looked like a routine single into left-center, but instead tested Bradley's arm. It wasn't even close, as Escobar couldn't even get in position to slide. Pedroia tagged him several feet short of the bag.

In the third, with a full count and runners on the move, Escobar hit a drive to deep right-center. Bradley made a nice running catch and threw a bullet to second, where Bandy was doubled off. Bradley has eight assists, already doubling his total from last year. Bradley has started 11 double plays since the start of 2014, the most of any Major League outfielder in that span.
"Well, you know, I knew he'd get it because he always does," said O'Sullivan. "But him throwing that ball back into second, the ball's in the air and I'm like, 'He's going to get him! I'm watching it come and I'm like it's gonna beat him ... it beat him ... let's get off the field.'" More >
Coming unglued:Matt Shoemaker began Sunday with a 1.87 ERA over his past eight starts and managed to keep the Red Sox scoreless through the first four innings, despite allowing six baserunners. With two outs in the fifth, though, Shoemaker got hit around, giving up an RBI ground-rule double to David Ortiz, a two-run double to Ramirez and a run-scoring single to Bradley, which prompted his exit.
"That's the most frustrating thing about that -- they did all that with two outs," Shoemaker said. "All of it. Ortiz gets a hit, fine. Get Hanley out. Then it's a 1-0 game, we go into the sixth, score those runs, it's a whole different game. They did it with two outs, so that's super frustrating."
O'Sullivan starts strong: The Red Sox desperately needed a good performance from their starter, and O'Sullivan provided it. The righty had a two-hit shutout entering the sixth. O'Sullivan might have earned another start before the All-Star break instead of Clay Buchholz, who was hit hard again Saturday night. More >

Rally killer: The Angels totaled five runs in the sixth and seventh to cut their deficit to two, but Joe Smith lost any momentum they might have gained by surrendering three runs in the bottom of the seventh. The Angels' usual setup man allowed five of his first six batters to reach in his second outing since coming off the disabled list. Smith gave up three straight singles to Bradley, Holt and Leon, then walked Hernandez and, two batters later, surrendered a two-run single to Pedroia.
"Joe just struggled with his command, struggled with putting some guys away," Scioscia said. "Those guys put some balls in play and found some holes."

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Simmons (3-for-4) is batting .410 over his past 10 games, raising his batting average from .204 to .250.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW
The Angels used a challenge to overturn a call that eventually gave Simmons a double in the seventh. Simmons hit a line drive off the Green Monster that was initially ruled foul by third-base umpire Paul Nauert. But replay showed that it just barely struck the yellow line, and the Angels moved to 11-for-20 in challenges this season. Escobar followed with a two-run double to cut the deficit to two.

WHAT'S NEXT
Angels:Nick Tropeano will be called up from Triple-A to start Monday's series opener against the Rays, opposite lefty Matt Moore. Tropeano missed about three weeks with shoulder inflammation, then made one start in the Minors before replacing a struggling Jhoulys Chacin in the rotation. First pitch at Tropicana Field is set for 10:10 a.m. PT.
Red Sox: Sinkerballer Rick Porcello will put his 6-0 Fenway Park record this season to the test in Monday's 1:35 p.m. ET matinee against the Rangers, who have the best record in the American League. Boston lost two out of three in Texas from June 24-26.