Things started out nicely for the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night before they made a complete 180 and went south.
After giving up 4 runs in the first two innings, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim starter Matt Palmer settled down as he retired the last 19 batters he faced to help his team to an 8-4 win over the Red Sox in front of 35,666 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
The loss drops the Red Sox to 21-13 and they stay a game behind the Toronto Blue Jays who lost. The Angels improve to 17-15 on the young season.
Tim Wakefield started strong in this one for the Red Sox but ran into some trouble in the 3rd inning and that was all it took for things to head south. Wake ended up going 4 2/3 innings, allowing 7 runs on 11 hits and 3 walks while recording two strikeouts. Hunter Jones worked a 1/3 of an inning, giving up a run on a hit and a walk.
Daniel Bard made his MLB debut and threw the ball hard and well. His first batter of the night went down on 3 pitches, the last being 98 MPH. He ended up giving the Red Sox 2 innings of 1-hit ball with a walk and the one strikeout. Takashi Saito went an inning with just a hit allowed.
Palmer went all 9 innings, giving up the 4 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8 Red Sox batters.
Jason Bay had 2 hits for the Red Sox, including 2-run homer. Jacoby Ellsbury, David Ortiz and Nick Green had the other hits for the visiting nine with Ellsbury and Green adding an RBI each.
The Red Sox got going right out of the gate in this one.
Ellsbury started things in the 1st with a single. After Julio Lugo popped out, Ellsbury was caught stealing with Big Papi at the plate who ended up singling. Bay made it 2-0 Red Sox as he crushed a Palmer offering into the stands for a 2-run homer.
Palmer started off the 2nd with a strikeout of J.D. Drew. He then issued back-to-back walks to Jeff Bailey and George Kottaras. Green knocked in Bailey with a double to make it 3-0 as Kottaras had to hold up at third. Ellsbury brought in Kottaras with a groundout to shortstop to push the lead to 4-0.
Wakefield loaded up the bases in the bottom half of the 2nd but was able to strikeout Erick Aybar and got Chone Figgins to fly out.
The last hit of the night for the Red Sox would come in the 3rd when Bay singled to right center. He was quickly retired on a Mike Lowell inning-ending double play.
Reggie Willits, who was a late replacement for Gary Matthews, Jr., started the home half of the 3rd with a single to shallow center. With Bobby Abreu at the plate, Willits stole second before Wake walked Abreu. Torii Hunter followed with a single to score Willits to cut the lead to 3-1. Kendry Morales then singled in Abreu to make it 3-2 Red Sox. Mike Napoli then crushed a pitch from Wakefield for a 3-run homer and just like that it was 5-4 Angels.
In the bottom of the 4th, Hunter made it 6-4 when Wakefield tried to sneak a 72 MPH fastball by him. It obviously didn’t work.
The Angels added another run in the 5th when Willits had an RBI single to push the lead to 7-4.
Jones walked Hunter to start the 6th inning and Morales followed with a ground rule double. Bard came in with his guns blazing as he struck out Napoli on just three pitches, all fastballs of 96, 96 and 98 MPH. Rivera then hit a sac fly to right for the final run of the night and an 8-4 Angels lead.
Unfortunately for the Red Sox and Wakefield, when something goes wrong for him, he can’t quickly turn things back around. I’m sure it was a purely mechanical issue for him and it was something that Kottaras and him along with pitching guru John Farrell were able to fix. Sometimes starters will have a bad night and it was Wake’s turn tonight.
As far as Bard goes, he’s legit and now that he has this first outing of the way, I fully expect him to be lights out. Sure there may be a blemish here and there but wow was he impressive striking out Napoli on three pitches.
Quick turn around for these two teams as they will play an afternoon game that starts at 3:35 PM EDT. Brad Penny will look to give the Red Sox another series win and he’ll be opposed by Ervin Santana, who is making his first start of the season after being on the disabled list.
Boston Red Sox @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 5.13.09 box score
