When Jon Lester ran into trouble in the eighth, giving up back-to-back singles to lead off the inning, Red Sox manager Terry Francona sent the message to the mound: This was Lester's problem to solve on his own. "That was a lot of responsibility," Francona said. "He deserves to have that confidence in him." Lester pitched out of a bases-loaded jam — thanks to slick fielding…

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Searching for answers to an offense that has been spotty this season, manager Mike Scioscia shook up his batting order for the series opener in Boston.

Hideki Matsui started each of the first 26 games this season as the Angels’ cleanup hitter, but he went into the Boston series in a 3-for-25 slump. Scioscia moved him to fifth in the order, Kendry Morales leapfrogging into the cleanup spot.

“We’re looking at some things to take some pressure off Hideki,” Scioscia said. “We moved Kendry up, and we’ll look at some options as we move forward.

“It’s not necessarily a promotion or a demotion. We’re just trying to find some groupings that will work.”

It might not have been a demotion, but Scioscia did say Matsui will likely get his first day off this season during… View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Los Angeles Angels News