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BOSTON -- John Lackey is rolling again after two rough seasons that made his rich contract seem like a waste of money. Now the Boston Red Sox are getting what they paid for. Lackey allowed two hits in seven innings, gave up no earned runs for his second straight start and led the Red Sox to an 8-1 win over the Cleveland Indians on a rainy Friday night. "I had one bad year and needed surgery afterwards," he said, "Its not like Ive never been good before." Lackey was 14-11 in his first season after signing a five-year, $82.5 million contract as a free agent. Then he faltered in 2011, going 12-12 with a 6.41 ERA while battling elbow problems. He had Tommy John surgery after that season and missed all of 2012. Now hes 3-4 with a 2.72 ERA in a season in which hes allowed more than three earned runs in just one of his seven starts. And he said his elbow feels fine. "Hes not thinking about anything thats taken place in the past, either performance-wise or injury-wise," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "The benefit that he had coming into this year was that spring training started 16 months post-op for him, so he was a little bit further along in the recovery than maybe the typical Tommy John" patient. His season is going so well that the crowd, which booed him often during the 2011 season, chanted "Lackey, Lackey" after he finished his night by striking out Mark Reynolds and Jason Giambi to end the seventh inning. "Its been a lot of fun," Lackey said. "My arm strength is getting better. Endurance is getting better. Things are going on the right track." Mike Carp began the scoring with a three-run homer in the second, breaking an 0-for-21 slump. "It definitely means a lot," he said. "Ive been struggling for playing time and to have a big at bat like that it builds confidence heading into the next couple days." The homer also ended a 20-inning scoreless streak for Justin Masterson (7-3) and followed a walk to David Ortiz and a single by Mike Napoli. "This was probably the first (start) I didnt really feel the greatest," Masterson said. "I was just kind of pushing (the ball) to the plate. I dont know if the weather had anything to do with that." The Indians fell out of first place in the AL Central and a half-game behind the Detroit Tigers, who beat the Minnesota Twins 6-0. The Red Sox remained one game behind the AL East-leading New York Yankees, who beat the Tampa Bay Rays 9-4. It was the second straight strong performance by Lackey. Last Sunday he gave up one hit and one unearned run in six innings of a 5-1 win at Minnesota. He left that game after a three-hour rain delay. The start of Fridays game was delayed by 44 minutes. "Both teams play in it, so its a better night if youre winning," Indians manager Terry Francona said. Lackey struck out eight, walked three and gave up an unearned run while pitching through a steady rain. He allowed only two of the 25 batters he faced to hit the ball out of the infield. "He had velocity," Francona said. "He ended up throwing that cutter very effectively, kind of ran it in on our lefties. As he got more successful with it, he started bringing it off the plate a little bit, opening up the rest of the plate." He also made a nice fielding play, ranging toward first base to pick up a grounder, skidding on his knees and throwing out speedy Michael Bourn in the sixth. "It was kind of a crazy night with the rain, kind of got everybody a little off balance probably," catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia said, "but Lack did a great job. I think regardless of anything he was going to go out there and do that." Former Red Sox manager Francona received an ovation when he walked back to the dugout after making two pitching changes in the seventh, when Boston scored four runs. Francona returned to Fenway Park as an opposing manager on Thursday night for the first time since he was let go by the Red Sox after the 2011 season. The Indians won that game 12-3. After Carps homer, the Indians made it 3-1 in the third. Singles by Reynolds and Michael Brantley put runners at first and second before Lackey retired two batters. On a double-steal attempt, Saltalamacchia threw the ball into left field, allowing Reynolds to score and Brantley to reach third. The Red Sox made it 4-1 in the sixth when they loaded the bases with one out. Daniel Nava was hit by a pitch and Dustin Pedroia and Ortiz singled. Napoli grounded to shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who threw to second baseman Jason Kipnis for a forceout. Kipnis throw to first pulled Nick Swisher off the bag as Napoli reached safely and Nava scored. Pedroia also tried to score, but Swisher threw him out. Boston took an 8-1 lead in the seventh on two-run singles by Jacoby Ellsbury and Pedroia. Notes: Giambi is hitless in his last 26 at bats after going 0-for-4. .. Cleveland activated Swisher off the paternity list and optioned IF Cord Phelps to Triple-A Columbus. ... The Red Sox recalled RHP Alfredo Aceves and IF Jose Iglesias from Triple-A Pawtucket and placed OF Shane Victorino and 3B Will Middlebrooks on the 15-day disabled list. They also activated C David Ross off the 7-day concussion disabled list and sent C Ryan Lavarnway to Pawtucket. ... Clevelands Scott Kazmir (2-2) faces Jon Lester (6-1) on Saturday in the third game of the four-game series. Wholesale Basketball Jerseys . The phone hearing is scheduled for 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt. Winchester, who was not penalized for the hit, appeared to make contact with Kellys head early in the first period of Thursdays game in Boston. Cheap Jerseys From China . Louis Blues absence from top spot in the TSN. http://www.chinawholesalenfljerseys.com/ . There are some early surprises in the race for the Hart Trophy, but two of the contenders are the leagues biggest stars over the past decade. There are many more players in contention for the awards than just the three that Ive named, and a good or bad week can easily alter the landscape, but through the first 20 or so games of the NHL season, this is how the awards races look to me. Cheap NBA Jerseys China . The Swede became the first golfer to win the PGA Tours FedEx Cup and European Tours Race to Dubai in the same season. "It is still taking a little time to sink in what Ive achieved this week as was the case when I won the FedEx Cup but then it just kept getting better and better as the days went on and I am sure this will be the same," he said. NFL Jerseys Cheap . Pert has formerly spent time as an assistant coach with Cardiff City, Coventry City, and Bahrain mens national team. "Martyn is a highly-respected coach with experience at the top levels in England," said Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson. BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Carl Edwards is looking for Sprint Cup gold, and there are few more successful spots for him this season than Bristol Motor Speedway.Edwards won from the pole at the track in April and on Friday led Joe Gibbs Racings Olympic-style, 1-2-3 sweep of the top three spots in qualifying for the Saturday night race.Hopefully, well be sitting here tomorrow night at the end of this deal talking about how we did it in the race, Edwards said. Thatd be pretty neat.Edwards had a fast lap of 131.407 mph on the concrete surface of the half-mile track in the final segment of the three-round knockout qualifying. He bested teammates Denny Hamlin in second and Kyle Busch in third.Hamlin set the Bristol qualifying record of 131.668 mph in the first round of NASCARs three rounds of knockout qualifications.Ryan Blaney was fourth, his Ford disrupting a quartet of JGR racers as he finished a tick in front of Matt Kenseth.Chase Elliott was sixth, followed by Martin Truex Jr., AJ Allmendinger, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.Jeff Gordon was 11th, his best showing in the four races he has subbed for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is recovering from a concussion.Chris Buescher, the winner at Pocono last month, rounded out the top 12.It looks difficult for anyone to crack what appears to be JGRs dominance. While most of the garage is scrambling for position to make the championship Chase, Gibbs four drivers already are locked into the 16-driver field with a combined 10 victories in the seasons first 22 races.All of our cars were all very fast, Hamlin said. When youve got drivers that have equal equipment, all good drivers, it will be close.Edwards claimed his 21st career Sprint Cup pole and fourth at Bristol. Hamlin will start in the top 10 for the 21st time this season, and Busch will make his 16th top-10 start of the year.Other notes from Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday:GRIP SOUGHT IN TURNS: NASCAR and Bristol Motor Speedway officials were to reapply resin in the turns of the track late Friday night in preparation for Saturday nights race.The resin also was reapplied Thursday night and appeared to be successful in adding grip to the lower groove.While the track had used a tire machine to add rubber to the resin prior to the race weekend, the tire machine will not be used again before the Sprint Cup race.ddddddddddddBIFFLES APPROACH: Greg Biffle might want to take a different tact at Bristol.The Roush Fenway Racing driver spun out and slid -- without hitting the wall -- during Sprint Cup practice early Friday. During qualifying, Biffle did a way-too-similar spin slide.He said he thought the car was strong and he was heading to a fast lap when he felt the car get loose and slip away.Biffle is in need of a strong performance in Saturday nights race. After not finishing in the top 10 in the first 16 races, he had an eighth, sixth and fifth the next three weeks at Daytona, Kentucky and New Hampshire. The spurt didnt last and Biffle has ended up 39th, 25th and 39th the past three races.Biffle is starting 34th at Bristol.LOGANO THREE-PEAT? Logano has won the past two summer night races at Bristol and says he believes he can make it three in a row this weekend.Logano, locked into the championship Chase since winning at Michigan, has a string of consistently high finishes with eight top-10s over the past 10 races -- six of those being top-5 or better. He will start 10th on Saturday.The last driver to win two straight August events was Kyle Busch in 2009 and 2010. The last to win three straight summer events here was Darrell Waltrip in 1981, 1982 and 1983.DALE JR.S REGIMEN: Earnhardt is missing his fifth race this week since doctors believe he had a concussion from a hard crash at Michigan two months ago. He has kept his fans and friends updated on his progress with a series of videos explaining what he must do to improve his balance and his focus on objects in the distance while moving his head.Theres one of him playing basketball. In another, he details visual performance enhancement exercises he must perform for 25 minutes. It crosses your eyes and makes them do all kinds of funny things, Earnhardt said. It trains your eyes to work together, and I need that.Information from The Associated Press and ESPNs Bob Pockrass was used in this report. ' ' '