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Parting shot: Ross powers D-backs vs. Red Sox

Slugger notches three RBIs, falls triple shy of cycle vs. former ballclub

BOSTON -- Cody Ross took some shots at the Red Sox on Friday afternoon.

Then once the game started, Ross did plenty more swinging as he clubbed a homer and drove in three runs to help lead the D-backs past the Red Sox, 7-6, in front of a sold-out crowd at Fenway Park.

Ross played for the Red Sox in 2012 and hit 22 homers with 81 RBIs and was disappointed that the Red Sox only offered him a two-year contract this past offseason. The D-backs signed him to a three-year deal and Ross said on WEEI 93.7 FM in Boston on Friday that the Red Sox "basically ... lied to my face."

"Obviously I've had this game circled on my calendar for a while," he said after the game. "I knew we were coming back here the later part of the year and I was excited to get back and see a lot of familiar faces and a lot of friends, but at the same time come back and beat them. There's some feelings there, so it definitely feels good to get this first one."

Ross was greeted warmly by the fans and drew on his experience of returning to San Francisco after leaving the Giants to help him this time.

"Every game I play I have a lot of nerves, but this was a little more sentimental I guess," he said. "I've been in this situation before -- going back to San Francisco and you don't want to try and do too much. You can find yourself up there trying to hit a grand slam with nobody on every time you're up there and it can work against you. I was just trying to get some good pitches to hit and not try to do too much."

Not doing much is a good way of describing the D-backs' offense of late. Runs have been scarce, and they may have hit a low point Thursday night, when they fanned 14 times and mustered just one ninth-inning run against the Rangers in Texas.

On Friday, they broke out against Red Sox starter Jon Lester, scoring six runs and pounding out 11 hits in just 4 1/3 innings against Boston's Opening Day starter.

"We hit the ball well," manager Kirk Gibson said. "That's the way we should be swinging the bats. It's been a while. We came out and swung with some aggression. That's the way we should play."

In case his team had forgotten that fact, Gibson held a brief team meeting prior to the game, which a few players said was a good, positive meeting.

It was a back-and-forth game through the first six innings when former D-backs turned Red Sox shortstop Stephen Drew hit a two-out, two-run homer to tie things at 6.

Ross untied it when he led off the seventh with a home run that just barely cleared the Green Monster in left.

Red Sox manager John Farrell asked the umpires to review the call, but it was ruled that the fan that touched the ball did so after it had cleared the wall.

Randall Delgado (4-3) won his third straight start, though it certainly was not a work of art.

The right-hander allowed six runs (four earned) on six hits in six innings.

"He actually hung in there pretty good," Gibson said. "We kept grinding away."

Four D-backs relievers managed to keep the Red Sox off the board the rest of the way, with Brad Ziegler pitching the ninth to record his sixth save.

Ross was 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles to go with his homer.

Ross' second double drove in a run during Arizona's three-run fifth-inning rally that sent Lester to the showers.

"Obviously he came back with a little bit of a chip on his shoulder," Lester said. "So I mean, Ross is a good guy. I wish him the best, but you know when he steps in that batter's box he's just another hitter I got to get out. Obviously I didn't do that."

The D-backs finished the game with five doubles.

And while Ross was wearing an ear-to-ear grin after the game, he said it had more to do with getting a win for his current team than in getting revenge against his former squad.

"I don't feel like I proved a point," Ross said. "I was just going out there trying to help my team win."

Steve Gilbert is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Inside the D-backs, and follow him on Twitter @SteveGilbertMLB.
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