RED SOX TAKE ON BLUE JAYS TONIGHT @ FENWAY

SECOND-HALF START: Boston walked off with a 3-1 win over the White Sox last night thanks to a 3-run homer by Cody Ross with 1 out in the 9th…The Sox have won 5 of their 7 games since the All-Star break and each of their 2 series in that time (2-1 at TB, 3-1 vs. CWS)…The Red Sox have 13 series wins in their last 20 sets dating back to 5/11.

WALK-OFF WONDER: Last night marked the 2nd walk-off win for the Sox this season (also a walk-off HR from Jarrod Saltalamacchia on 5/26 vs. TB) and Cody Ross’ 3-run shot in the 9th was his 3rd career walk-off homer…Last night’s 3-1 win was also the 1st time Boston has scored its only runs of a game on a walk-off home run since 6/4/95, when Troy O’Leary hit a 2-run shot to beat the Mariners 2-1 in the 10th inning.

THREE MUSKETEER: Including last night’s walk-off home run, Cody Ross has hit 3, 3-run homers over his last 2 games…Ross, who hit 2 of the 3-run shots on Wednesday night, became the 1st player in 10 years to hit 3, 3-run homers over a span of 2 games since Sammy Sosa did it for the Cubs at Coors Field in 2002 (Sosa hit all 3 on 8/10/02) (Elias).

• Over his last 2 games, Ross is 5-for-9 (.556) with a double, 3 homers, 9 RBI and 4 runs.

LEFT TURN: The Sox are 20-10 (.667) when facing a left-handed starter this season, the 2nd-best mark in the Majors…Boston is 2nd in the Majors with both a .465 SLG and 43 homers off lefties.

RED SOX LOOK TO TAKE SERIES FROM WHITE SOX

LEFT TURN: The Sox are 19-10 (.655) when facing a left-handed starter this season, the 3rd-best mark in the Majors behind the Giants (19-9, .679) and Yankees (21-11, .656)…Boston is 2nd in the Majors with both a .470 SLG and 43 homers off lefties.

ROSS IS BOSS: Cody Ross tallied his 10th career multi-homer game last night (3rd in 2012) with 3-run homers in the 3rd and 4th innings last night…He was the 1st Red Sox since Bill Mueller in 2003 to hit home runs with at least 2 men on base in back-to-back innings and he was the 1st Boston player to do that at Fenway Park since Mo Vaughn in 1997 (Elias).

• Ross’ 6 RBI in last night’s game were the most for a Sox batter this season and 1 shy of his career high.

IN THE CLUTCH: Adrian Gonzalez leads the Majors with a .404 AVG (38-for-94) with runners in scoring position…Gonzalez, who matched season highs with 3 hits and 4 RBI last night, has hit safely in 22 of his last 23 games with a .404 AVG (38-for-94) and 19 RBI in that time, including a .538 clip (14-for-26) with RISP.

SOX BACK HOME TONIGHT: MIAMI MARLINS

Miami tonight

BACK ON TRACK: The Red Sox were off yesterday after defeating the Cubs 7-4 at Wrigley on Sunday to improve to 33-33…The win evened Boston’s record at .500 for the 1st time since after play on 6/8 (29-29)…A win tonight would put the Sox above .500 for the 1st time since 6/7 (29-28).

Boston has won its last 2 games and has taken 4 of its last 5 tilts following a 4-game losing streak…The Sox have lost 8 of their last 13 but are 10-9 in their last 19 contests.

MID-MAY RUN: The Red Sox have won 21 of their last 35 tilts (.600) since 5/11, 3rd-best in the AL in that time…All 14 losses during that span have been by 4 runs or less, including 1-run defeats 4 times and 2 runs or less on 7 occasions…Friday’s 3-0 loss was the 1st time the club has been shut out in that stretch.

Boston has outscored opponents 165-124 in its 35 games since 5/11…Club pitchers have a ML-best 1.18 WHIP in that time, with starters allowing 2 ER or less 21 times in the stretch and the bullpen posting a 2.42 ERA (25 ER/93.0 IP).

The Sox have won 8 of their last 12 series dating back to 5/10…They have lost just 3 sets in that time and tied 1.

THE TURN-AROUND: The Red Sox are 29-23 (.558) since 4/23, 5th in the AL in that time…Prior to that date, Boston was 28th among the 30 Major League teams with a 4-10 start.

IN THE STANDINGS: Boston is in 5th place in the AL East, 8.0 games behind the division-leading Yankees, its largest defi cit of the season…This is the latest into a calendar year that the Red Sox have stood in last place since September of 1997…The Sox have been in 4th or 5th place all year.

BACK AT HOME: The Sox begin a 9-day, 9-game homestand tonight with the 1st of 3 tilts against the Marlins…Boston will then host Atlanta (6/22-24) and Toronto (6/25-27). Despite losses in 6 of the club’s last 7 home tilts, Boston has won 10 of its last 18 games at Fenway Park (.556), tied for the 5th-best home record in the AL since 5/11…Over the 18-game stretch, the Sox have outscored opponents 89-64 and the staff has posted a 3.37 ERA (61 ER/163.0 IP), holding opponents to 2 runs or less 7 times and 1 run or less 5 times.

The Sox rank 3rd in the AL with an average of 5.09 runs per game at home this season (168 R/33 G)…They top the AL with 71 doubles (1st in ML) and 133 XBH at home.

CLAY MOLDING: Tonight’s starter Clay Buchholz is 3-0 with a 1.45 ERA (5 ER/31.0 IP) and 28 K’s in his last 4 starts…He has pitched at least 7.0 innings and allowed no more than 2 runs all 4 starts, his longest such career stretch.

FISH IN TOWN: The Red Sox tonight open a 3-game set against Miami at Fenway…The Sox last hosted the Marlins in 2009, winning 2 of 3 contests…The Sox have taken 9 of 15 all-time matchups with the Marlins at Fenway Park, outscoring the Fish 113-73 in those contests. Boston took 2 of the clubs’ 3 meetings last week (6/11-13) and has won all 8 series against the Marlins since dropping their 1st ever set in 1997 in Boston…The Sox 17-10 (.630) record in their all-time series with the Marlins.

CROWDED OUTFIELD: On Sunday Ryan Kalish became the 13th player to appear in the outfield for Boston this season, the most outfi elders used among any team this year and matching the club’s 2011 total…The Sox have had 7 different outfi elders on the DL this year while 6 ML teams have yet to use 7 players in the outfi eld all season…The Red Sox have employed 25 different outfi eld combos this year.

Boston has used 41 players this year, 2nd most in the Major Leagues to the Padres (45).

PAPI’S POP: David Ortiz leads the AL with 37 extra-base hits and ranks 2nd in the Majors behind CIN’s Joey Votto (40). Ortiz has 3 homers in his last 7 games and leads the team with 16 this year, tied for 7th in the AL…His 394 career long balls rank 53rd on baseball’s all-time list…He is 6 homers shy of 400 career, a mark reached by only 7 active players. Ortiz fi nished the road portion of Interleague play with 3 homers in 7 games at 1st base…He has averaged 8.89 AB/HR as a 1st baseman since 2005, tops at the position in the Majors in that span (min. 100 PA at 1st base).

CATCHING UP: Jarrod Saltalamacchia is tied for the ML lead among catchers this season with 12 homers and 24 extrabase hits…He tops AL catchers with a .538 SLG (min. 100 PA).

ROSS TO THE DL

WEEI FLASH: Sox OF Cody Ross has fracture of navicular bone in left foot & will go on DL on Tuesday

ROSS SIGNS 1-YEAR DEAL WITH RED SOX

RED SOX SIGN OUTFIELDER CODY ROSS TO ONE-YEAR CONTRACT

Right-handed Pitcher Scott Atchison Designated for Assignment

 

BOSTON, MA—The Boston Red Sox today signed outfielder Cody Ross to a one-year contract for the 2012 season.  No further terms were disclosed.  To make room for Ross on the 40-man roster, the Red Sox designated right-handed pitcher Scott Atchison for assignment.

The announcement was made by Executive Vice President/General Manager Ben Cherington.

Ross played in 121 games for the Giants in 2011, including 107 starts, and appeared at all three outfield positions.  The 31-year-old knocked 14 home runs, his sixth straight season with double-digit homers, and hit .240 (97-for-405) last year with 25 doubles, 52 RBI and 54 runs, and led the Giants with a career-high 49 walks.  He made just one error in 192 total chances in the field and tallied eight assists.  A right-handed batter, he hit at a .309 clip (17-for-55) with four home runs and 10 RBI in 13 games in September.

Selected by Detroit in the fourth round of the 1999 First-Year Player Draft, Ross has played in 757 Major League games over eight seasons with the Tigers (2003), Dodgers (2005-06), Reds (2006), Marlins (2006-10) and Giants (2010-11).  He has a .261 career average (636-for-2,436) with 152 doubles, 11 triples, 100 home runs, 371 RBI, 328 runs, 197 walks and 28 stolen bases.  Ross has hit at a .282 clip (193-for-684) off left-handed pitching and is posting a .563 slugging percentage against southpaws in his career, the seventh-best mark in the Majors since 2003.  He earned MVP honors for the National League Championship Series in 2010 after batting .350 (7-for-20) with three home runs and five RBI, and hit .294 (15-for-51) with five home runs and 10 RBI in 15 games overall that postseason to help the Giants to a World Series title.

The 35-year-old Atchison made 17 appearances over six stints with the Red Sox in 2011, posting a 1-0 record with a 3.26 ERA (11 ER/30.1 IP) and his first Major League save.  He also pitched in 36 games with Triple-A Pawtucket, including one start, going 6-2 with five saves, a 2.64 ERA (18 ER/61.1 IP), 72 strikeouts and nine walks.  Signed by the Red Sox as a free agent on December 2, 2009, the right-hander has appeared in 113 career Major League games (one start) over parts of five seasons with the Mariners (2004-05), Giants (2007) and Red Sox (2010-11), tallying a 4.09 ERA (72 ER/158.1 IP) and 128 strikeouts while going 5-6 with one save.

KEVIN HARRIMAN