After an intentional walk to David Ortiz in the bottom half of the 9th inning, Manny Ramirez absolutely crushed a fastball for a 3-run homer off Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez to give the Sox a 6-3 win. The win by the Sox gives them a 2-0 lead in their ALDS matchup. The home run by Manny was his first walk-off homer in his Red Sox career.
Lugo led off the 9th with a single and went to second on a hit-and-run ground ball out by Pedroia. Mike Scioscia then went to his bullpen for his closer, Rodriguez to face Kevin Youkilis. K-Rod ended up striking out Youk for the second out. They then decided to walk Big Papi (his 4th straight and 2nd intentional walk) to face Manny. On a 1-0 fastball, Manny turned on the inside pitch and launched it over the Green Monster to set off mass hysteria at the Fens.
In a game where both starters (Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kelvim Escobar) struggled, the bullpens for both teams were almost perfect until the home run by Manny.
Dice-K had his struggles in the first inning but got out of with no runs coming across the plate. He got Chone Figgins to strikeout but then issued a walk to former Sox shortstop Orlando Cabrera. Vladimir Guerrero followed that up with a lengthy at-bat but he ended up fouling out to Kevin Youkilis at first base. On a 2-1 count, Garrett Anderson singled to right moving Cabrera over to third. Macier Izturis worked a full-count but took a called strike three to end the top half of the 1st inning.
The local nine battled in their half of the 1st and took a 2-0 lead. Dustin Pedroia led off with a ground out. After Escobar got ahead of Youk 0-2, he threw four straight balls and walked him. Big Papi got Youk to second with a single off Escobar. This brought Manny to plate but he couldn’t bring in a run as he flew out to center. Escobar then walked Mike Lowell to load up the bases for J.D. Drew. After taking a called first strike, Drew brought in two runs with a single to center as Youk and Big Papi scored as there was no throw to the plate. Escobar finished off the inning when Jason Varitek lined out to Howie Kendrick at second.
Matsuzaka had some more troubles with his control in the 2nd. He started off the inning getting ahead 0-2 to Casey Kotchman but then he threw four straight balls to walk Kotchman. Kendry Morales followed that with an infield single moving Kotchman to third base.The ball actually went off Pedroia’s shoulder but he was ok after a visit from Terry Francona and the trainers. Dice-K then struck out Kendrick for the first out of the inning. With the infield back, Jeff Mathis grounded out to Lowell at third as Kotchman would come across the plate to cut the lead to 2-1. Figgins then hit a double over the head of Manny that scored Morales easily to tie the game at 2. The Angels went ahead 3-2 when Cabrera doubled in Figgins. Matsuzaka averted any further damage as he got the free-swinging Guerrero to ground out.
The Red Sox went quietly in their half of the 2nd inning.
In the 3rd inning, Dice-K gave up a lead-off double to Anderson but Anderson was quickly erased as he made a base-running error. Izturis grounded the ball to Lugo who decided to throw to third to easily get Anderson. With Kotchman at the plate, Izturis stole second base and went to third as Kotchman grounded out. Morales flew out to end the inning.
Matsuzaka started out the 5th inning by retiring the first two batters he faced. He then allowed Izturis to reach on an infield single. With Kotchman at the plate, Izturis stole second and went to third on a ball four wild pitch by Dice-K. Francona had seen enough of Dice-K and went to the bullpen for Javier Lopez. He would only need two pitches as Morales grounded into a fielder’s choice.
The Red Sox tied up in the game in the 5th. Pedroia led off with a double down the line in short left. Youk got Pedroia over to third with a bunt down the first base line. The Angels then decided to intentionally walk Big Papi to face Manny. On an 0-2 count, Manny hit a foul ball that Angels catcher Jeff Mathis tried to reach into the crowd to get. However, a fan beat him to the ball and saved the at-bat for Manny. This was key as Escobar then threw four straight balls to walk Manny. Lowell tied the game up at 3 as he hit a sacrifice fly scoring Pedroia. On the 10th pitch of hit at-bat against Escobar, Drew grounded out to first to end the inning.
Manny Delcarmen took over for Lopez in the 6th and worked a perfect 1-2-3 inning. Scot Shields came on for Escobar in the bottom of the inning and allowed a 1-out walk to Coco Crisp. He would get out of the inning though as Coco committed a base-running error when he passed second base on a Julio Lugo fly out to center. Coco slid by the bag and forgot to retouch it before heading back to first.
After Delcarmen hit Vlad in the arm with 1-out in the 7th, Francona went for his bullpen again, this time calling on the lefty Hideki Okajima. All he did was come in and get Anderson to fly out and he struck out Izturis swinging.
Shields would get the first two outs in the bottom of the 7th but then ran into some control problems. He issued a walk to Big Papi (his third straight) and Manny. After Shields worked the count full to Lowell, he got him to fly out, keeping the score tied at 3.
Okajima came back out to start the 8th and he got the first two outs of the inning. Francona then went to the bullpen again, this for Cinco Ocho Jonathan Papelbon. Cinco Ocho threw one pitch and got a ground ball from Kendrick to Lowell but his throw got away from Youk and Kendrick was safe on the error by Lowell. With Mathis at the plate, Kendrick easily stole second on a 1-1 count. The Angels then decided to pinch-hit for Mathis and brought in Juan Rivera, who inherited the 1-1 count. Kendrick ended up stealing third before Rivera worked a walk. Reggie Willits came in to pinch-run for Rivera and stole second with Figgins at the plate. After fouling a few pitches off on an 0-2 count, Figgins took strike three looking to end the threat off the Sox closer.
Willits ended up staying in the game as he replaced Vlad in right field to start the bottom of the 8th with Justin Speier on the mound. Vlad left with a left shoulder contusion. Speier ended up working a perfect 1-2-3 inning as the score remained tied at 3 heading into the 9th.
Cinco Ocho was back out on the mound to start the 9th for the Sox. He got the first two batters, Cabrera and Mike Napoli, to pop out to Lugo at short. Cinco Ocho then got ahead of Anderson 0-2 but ended up walking him. Papelboner got out of the inning as Izturis popped up the first pitch to Lugo for the final out of the inning.
The Sox have now beaten the Angels eight straight times in the postseason. The Red Sox and Angels will now fly cross-country overnight and enjoy a day off on Saturday. Curt Schilling will take the mound with a 2-0 lead as he will try to propel the Sox into the ALCS. Gametime is 3:07 PM ET on Sunday afternoon. Frank TV (TBS) has the game.
Notes and Musings:
Josh Beckett was the first person to throw back-to-back complete game shutouts in the postseason since Orel Hershiser in 1988.
The shutout for Beckett on Wednesday night was the first for the Sox since 1975 when Luis Tiant did it in the World Series.
Beckett’s 19 in a row retired consecutively is good for a tie at third all-time behind Don Larsen’s 27 and Herb Pennock’s 22. He is tied with Mike Mussina (2004 ALCS) and Jim Lonborg (1967 World Series).
Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett were not in the dugout as they flew ahead to California. Schilling will start Sunday’s Game 3 and Beckett has Game 4 on Monday (if necessary).
Luis Tiant threw out the first pitch tonight to Julio Lugo.
Tim Wakefield’s shoulder is improving and when the Sox make the ALCS, they will consider him for one of the starting positions.
Garrett Anderson has been battling pink-eye and looks like he was in a heavyweight fight. He had his vision examined and it was perfect so he was in the lineup for tonight’s game.
Terry Francona almost got hit by a J.D. Drew liner during BP in the head.
The Red Sox will hold an optional workout in Anaheim on Saturday.
Vladimir Guerrero returned to right field tonight after DH’ing in game 1. He has been battling triceps tendonitis but felt ok to play right tonight.
