Boston Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka and Minnesota Twins starter Scott Baker found themselves involved in a good ol’ fashioned pitcher’s duel in front of 37,912 fans at Fenway Park. Neither of them would factor in the decision as the Red Sox scored a run in the bottom of the 8th inning to beat the Twins 1-0 and end a two-game losing streak and snap the Twin’s 5-game winning streak.
More importantly, the win for the Red Sox coupled with a Rays loss this afternoon moves the Red Sox back to 4 games out of first in the AL East.
This was by far the best outing Matsuzaka has had since returning from the disabled list and quite possibly of the season. He went 7 1/3 innings scattering 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out 5. He had good command and located his pitches well and when he did get into trouble, he was able to work himself out of it.
Hideki Okajima came in to work the last two outs of the 8th and continued his recent success despite issuing a walk to the first batter he faced. Jonathan Papelbon worked a 1-2-3 9th inning for his 26th save.
Manny Ramirez had 2 hits and the lone RBI of the game while Dustin Pedroia extended his hitting streak to a career-high 15 games with a double in the 8th inning.
Matsuzaka ran into some trouble in the 1st after getting the first two outs of the inning. He issued a walk to Joe Mauer and then Justin Morneau reached on an infield single. Dice-K then walked Jason Kubel but got Delmon Young to ground back to him to end the inning.
The only baserunner the Red Sox had off of Baker was Mike Lowell who reached on a walk in the 2nd. Jacoby Ellsbury got the first hit of the day for the local nine in the 3rd with 2 outs in the inning but was stranded there when Pedroia fouled out.
The Red Sox had a good chance to break the game open in the 4th.
J.D. Drew led off with a single and went to third on a Manny single. Baker followed a strikeout of Lowell with a walk to Kevin Youkilis to load the bases up. He got out of trouble when Coco Crisp popped out and Jason Varitek flew out to center.
Some trouble for Dice-K in the 7th when he hit Delmon Young to start the inning. He got two outs very quickly when Brian Buscher lined into a double play as Youk was able to tag out Young who was on his way to second. Nick Punto then crushed a fastball from Dice-K for a triple that got over the head of Drew in right and hit the wall narrowly missing a home run. The inning ended as Lowell caught a Denard Span liner.
Matsuzaka started the 8th by getting Carlos Gomez to line out. Alexi Casilla then reached as he laid down a perfect bunt single with 2 strikes on him. Mauer followed that with a single to chase Dice-K from the game. He wasn’t happy about leaving the game and showed his displeasure when Terry Francona came to get him. Okajima came in and walked Morneau. He settled in though as he got pinch-hitter Craig Monroe to foul out and Young to ground into a fielder’s choice.
The only run of the game came in the bottom of the 8th inning. Pedroia narrowly missed a home run over the Green Monster and settled for a double off of reliever Brian Bass He would go to third on a Drew ground out to the right side and come around to score on a Manny single with the infield drawn in.
Jon Lester will take the ball tomorrow for the Red Sox looking to keep up his recent string of success and undoubtedly try to prove to the AL that he belongs in the All-Star Game.
Notes and musings:
Twins @ Red Sox 7.8.08 boxscore
With Sunday’s 5-4 loss, the Red Sox are 11-16 in games decided by one run, 9-2 at home and 2-14 on the road coming into tonight.
The Red Sox have been thrown out in each of their last 5 steal attempts since Coco Crisp stole 2nd base in the 4th inning on Thursday in New York.
Jonathan Papelbon took the loss on Sunday after allowing the winning run in the 10th inning. That ended a span in which the Red Sox had been victorious in each of Papelbon’s last 20 appearances beginning May 10.
Sunday marked the 3rd time in the last 9 games that the Boston bullpen failed to hold a lead in the 7th inning or later, all one-run losses.
The 7 1/3 innings was a season high for Matsuzaka.
Since I forgot to post this earlier, the deadline to purchase raffle tickets for a chance to win a spot at Beckett Bowl has been extended to July 9th at 9 PM.
I couldnt believe that Papelbon stat but I went to baseball reference and looked it up and despite blowing two saves in June the Sox won both of those games in extra innings.
After throwing 25 pitches in the first inning Matsuzaka really settled down and looked good.
Wish I could have caught the game, thanks for the update!
I found it odd about the stat too. It looked as though he finally said enough nibbling of the corners which we are accustomed to.
Amazing how many pitches it saves him.
You’re welcome Matthew, we bring a recap of the game every night here.