And after making things rather interesting, Foulke finally shut the door when he induced a double-play ball off the bat of the ageless Julio Franco.
''I really thought [Foulke] pitched better than the way it looked," manager Terry Francona said. ''I'm glad they didn't get another run. I thought he threw the ball better than the line is going to look [today]."
Once again, the Sox were able to get the job done against Tim Hudson. There's no doubting Hudson is one of the best pitchers in baseball. However, you'd never know it by his performances at Fenway Park.
The Braves righthander allowed four runs in the first two innings of his six-inning stint but did wiggle his way out of several later jams. But there's no doubting the Sox have Hudson's number.
Prior to last night's mediocre effort, Hudson was 1-3 with 8.53 ERA in four starts in the Fens. In his only postseason outing here (Game 4 of the 2003 American League Division Series) while with Oakland, he never made it out of the first inning.
Hudson's effort was the opposite of his Boston counterpart, Wade Miller, who turned in his third straight impressive outing.
He threw 105 pitches, the same number he threw last time out, May 14 in Seattle when he went 5 2/3 innings and left trailing, 3-2, only to have the Sox come back to win on Trot Nixon's grand slam.
''Outstanding," Francona said of Miller's outing. ''I think he's getting a little stronger. Tonight was the first time he pitched into the seventh. Going back out for the seventh, I think that shows he's getting a little more stamina."
Miller actually disagreed with Francona, saying, ''Actually, this is probably the worst game I felt going out there of the three starts. I didn't have the kind of feel for it today." Nor did he feel his velocity was as good as in his first two outings.
