Two throwing errors by Boston Red Sox starter Felix Doubront may have been all that stood between a victory over the Texas Rangers last night. And it was the second throwing error that was crucial to the outcome of the game.
Michael Young had led off the fifth with a single and after an Ian Kinsler pop out, Young went to second on a wild pitch from Doubront. Vlad Guerrero followed with a rope down the third base line that Adrian Beltre stopped but that’s all he could do. Doubront then got Josh Hamilton to line back to him but as he tried to double off Young at second, he stumbled and his throw went into the outfield allowing both runners to advance a base.
Had Doubront made the throw, the game may have turned out different but he didn’t and everything else came unraveled.
Fernando Cabrera came in and allowed back-to-back walks with the second one to Daniel Murphy forcing in a run to tie the game at 3-3. Cabrera then hung a breaking ball to Bengie Molina who put it over the wall for a grand slam.
While the grand slam by Molina might have been the worst part of the night, you could equally rank the fact that Molina ended up hitting for the cycle in the game right up there. Molina came up in the 8th needing the triple for the cycle and hit a fly ball to the deepest part of Fenway that went off the glove of center fielder Eric Patterson. Molina, who may be the slowest runner in all of Major League Baseball, lumbered into third with a standup triple. Of course a few minutes later, he left the game with a tight quad from all that running.
Cabrera by the way was designated for assignment after the game to make room for Manny Delcarmen who’ll be activated before the game tonight. Skipper Terry Francona also said that there might be a few other roster moves as the Red Sox try to shake things up a little.
It’s quite obvious the Red Sox need bullpen help and while Delcarmen will help a little, they need everyone to be consistent. And they aren’t getting that from everyone except for Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon. It will also help to get Clay Buchholz and Josh Beckett back. They might be able to eat up a few more innings to help eliminate the need for the bullpen or not as much of it during their starts.
Buchholz by the way pitched well last night in his rehab start and Beckett will be making the start for Pawtucket tonight. Let’s hope he comes through with flying colors as well as the Red Sox surely need him.
We’ll be back later with tonight’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups, news and any links from the day.
For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal and WEEI websites.
And if you must check out the enemy papers, head over to the Dallas Morning News and Ft. Worth Star-Telegram websites.
Photo credit: AP Photo
