Carl Pavano probably never wanted to pitch at Fenway Park ever again because of his career numbers there.
But tonight he looked pretty good as he went 6 strong innings, allowing just 2 runs and he got 4 RBIs from Victor Martinez as the Cleveland Indians went on to beat the Boston Red Sox 9-2 in front of 37,888 at the Fens.
The loss for the Red Sox ended a 9-game home winning streak as they fall to 17-11. The Indians improve to 11-17 on the season.
Justin Masterson had been perfect at Fenway Park (7-0) in his career but tonight just wasn’t his night. Once he got through the Indians order a few times, they started to figure him out and that was the difference. He went 6 1/3 innings, allowing 6 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks while striking out 6.
Hunter Jones worked 1 2/3 innings allowing a run on a hit and 2 walks with a strikeout. The deadweight in the Red Sox bullpen, Javier Lopez, went the final inning, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and should be seeing the door from the Red Sox real soon.
In the 6 innings Pavano pitched, he allowed just the 2 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out 4. Aaron Laffey went the final three innings, giving up 2 hits and added a strikeout to pick up his first career save.
Jonathan Van Every, filling in for the hobbled Jacoby Ellsbury, led the Red Sox with 2 hits and the only RBI while Jason Varitek had two hits as well. J.D. Drew, David Ortiz, Mike Lowell and Julio Lugo had the other hits.
Pavano walked Jason Bay to start the 2nd inning and he went to third on a Mike Lowell double. A walk to Varitek loaded up the bases for Jeff Bailey. He ended up grounding into a double play that scored Bay to put the Red Sox up 1-0. Van Every followed with a single to score Lowell and make it 2-0 Red Sox.
The Indians got a run back in the 3rd.
Masterson struck out Jhonny Peralta but then issued walks to Ben Francisco and Kelly Shoppach. Grady Sizemore flew out for the second out but Masterson gave up a single to Asdrubal Cabrera that scored Francisco from second to cut the local nine’s lead in half at 2-1.
With one out in the 5th, Masterson nailed Shoppach with a pitch and then struck out Sizemore for the second out. Cabrera reached on an infield single and Martinez brought them both home with a center to deep center that was almost caught by Van Every. Shin-Soo Choo followed with a single to score Martinez to put the Indians up for good at 4-2.
The Indians scored 3 more runs in the 7th on a Martinez single and a Mark DeRosa 2-run homer. They added two more runs in the 9th on a Martinez home run and Francisco single.
While the Red Sox bullpen has been solid for the most part all season, one member, Lopez, is struggling. In just 8 2/3 innings this season, he has given up 11 runs (10 earned) and is allowing too many baserunners as his WHIP now stands at 2.88. With Daniel Bard continuing to impress down in Pawtucket, it’s only a matter of time before he gets a chance in the Red Sox bullpen.
With a big series against the Rays looming this weekend, the Red Sox can’t look past tomorrow night’s game but a win would be nice. Tim Wakefield will be called upon by Terry Francona to get the Red Sox back in the win column. Jeremy Sowers will be called up from Triple-A and will start tomorrow night at 7:10 PM.
Notes and musings:
Cleveland Indians @ Boston Red Sox 5.6.09 box score
With last night’s win in New York, Terry Francona improved to 487-350 (.582) in his career with Boston. He is now 2 wins shy of tying Bill Carrigan (489) for 3rd-most in franchise history and 13 wins shy of reaching 500 with Boston. Overall as a Major League manager, he is 772-713 (.520).
The Sox improved to 5-0 against the Yankees in 2009. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this is only the 5th season in which either the Sox or Yankees won the first 5 head-to-head contests against the other. Boston won the first 5 in 1985 and first 14 in 1912 while New York took the first 6 contests in 1994 and first 9 in 1933.
With a double in the 5th inning, Victor Martinez of the Indians extended his hitting streak to 15-games which is an American League best right now.
Red Sox on streaks:
- Dustin Pedroia saw his 5-game hitting streak come to an end
- Jacoby Ellsbury has a 4-game hitting streak
- Mike Lowell extended his hitting streak to 3-games
- David Ortiz extended his hitting streak to 3-games
