The bats finally woke up as the Red Sox got some timely hitting from Dustin Pedroia and Eric Hinske in a 7-3 win over Texas. The win gave the Sox a split of this series. They finish up with a 6-4 record against the Rangers. Kason Gabbard, in his third start this season, pitched a lot better than he did against the Mariners and was good enough for the win. The bullpen was excellent again going 3 â…“ scoreless innings.
In his first four innings pitched, Gabbard faced 14 batters and only allowed a lead-off walk to Kenny Lofton to start the game. He also walked Desi Relaford leading off the 4th but Relaford was thrown out by Jason Varitek trying to steal second base.
The Sox threatened in the first but were unable to push a run across the plate and it made you think that this wasn’t going to be the night again. Julio Lugo led off with a walk and Pedroia followed with a strikeout by Brandon McCarthy. David Ortiz hit a single with Lugo moving to second. Manny Ramirez came up with a chance to plate a run but grounded into an inning-ending double play.
The local nine got on the board with 3 runs in their half of the 3rd inning. Hinske led off the inning with a single. Jacoby Ellsbury hit a chopper over McCarthy’s head that he easily beat out with his speed. With the struggling Lugo at the plate, Terry Francona decided a sacrifice bunt was in order. Lugo executed this to perfection as he moved Hinske and Ellsbury up a base. Both of them would come around to score when Pedroia hit a high fastball from McCarthy deep into right field, giving the Sox a 2-0 lead. Pedroia moved over to third on a Big Papi ground out and came around to score when Manny hit a double to deep centerfield. Manny’s double just missed being a homerun by about 3 feet. Pedroia’s run made it 3-0 Boys from Beantown. J.D. Drew then worked the first of his three walks on the night but Mike Lowell flew out to right ending the inning.
The home half of the 4th inning was the Ellsbury speed clinic. After Varitek and Hinske made the first two outs of the inning, Ellsbury lined a hard single to right. It was his first hit out of the infield. With the crowd anticipating an Ellsbury steal, the Rangers were careful pitching to Lugo. On a 2-0 count, Ellsbury took off for second and was easily safe at second. McCarthy ended up walking Lugo and that ended his night. Willie Eyre came in for McCarthy and uncorked a wild pitch that got away from Gerald Laird. Ellsbury seeing how far the ball got away, turned on his jets and scored all the way from second base, giving the local nine a 4-0 lead. Lugo also went from first to third on the wild pitch as well. Pedroia lined out to first for the third out of the inning.
Gabbard, who hadn’t given up a hit through the first four innings, finally got into a wee bit of trouble in the 5th inning. Marlon Byrd worked a lead-off walk. Gabbard got Victor Diaz to strikeout. Laird got the first hit of the game for the Rangers with a single that moved Byrd up a base. Brad Wilkerson then took a Gabbard offering out of the park for a 3-run homer, cutting the lead to 4-3. After giving up the homer, he then walked Travis Metcalf. But he would settle down by getting Lofton to groundout and Relaford to pop out.
Boston would add 3 more runs in the 5th inning to finish off the scoring for the night. Big Papi led off with a fly out to right field. Eyre then walked Manny and Drew. Lowell would fly out to left for the second out of the inning. The Captain would single, loading up the bases for Hinske. Hinske uncorked a deep fly ball to centerfield over the head of Lofton, clearing the bases of Red Sox and making the score 7-3. Ellsbury would follow with a walk but the uber-struggling Lugo would groundout to end the inning.
Gabbard’s night would be done in the 6th, after giving up a two out double to Byrd. Mike Timlin would come in and Victor Diaz to groundout to Lugo at short. Timlin worked until 2 outs in the 7th inning when he gave up a double to Metcalf. Javier Lopez came in and got the hot hitting Lofton to groundout.
Gabbard went 5 â…” innings, allowing 3 hits, 3 runs, and 4 walks. He did strikeout 5 Rangers hitters.
The Sox threatened in the 7th inning for more runs. Drew drew his third consecutive walk. Lowell popped out to short. Varitek crushed a ground rule double to rightfield, with Drew having to stop at third. Ellsbury worked a walk, the fourth time he had been on base (2 hits, 2 walks). With the bases loaded and the crowd chanting “Julio Lugo”, Lugo had a chance to break out of his slump but was unable to do so. He grounded out to second to end the inning.
Kyle Synder worked the 8th inning and Hideki “Vote for Me” Okajima worked the 9th inning to finish off the Rangers. The win was the 50th of the season for the Red Sox and it gave them the exact same record (50-31) they had at the halfway point last season.
The Devil Rays come to town now having lost eight consecutive games. This is first time these two AL East rivals have met this season. They will 18 games over the course of the rest of the season. Daisuke Matsuzaka takes the hill and looks to continue his hot pitching. Gametime is 7:05 PM ET and will be covered here on NESN and in Japan on NHK.
Okajima trails only Jeremy Bonderman of the Tigers right now in the final vote.
Daisuke Matsuzaka was named Red Sox pitcher of the month for June.
Curt Schilling was given the go-ahead to start throwing today after being reevaluated. He threw a little bit of long toss (35 throws) in the afternoon.
Kevin Youkilis was in the original lineup but was a late scratch with some tightness in his quad. Julio Lugo, who made his return to the lineup, was originally scheduled to bat 9th and J.D. Drew was to lead off. With Youk’s late scratch, Lugo was put in the lead off spot and Drew back to the 5th spot.
New Boston Celtic Ray Allen threw out the first pitch wearing a #20 Red Sox jersey. He was also up in the booth with Don & Jerry in the 4th inning. Ray Ray wants to ask Paul Pierce if he will give up #34 but doubts Pierce will give it up. Ray closed out his visit by saying “I want opponents to fear coming to the Garden.”
President Remy wanted to know if their song was number 1 on the charts yet. Orsillo told Rem Dawg it hadn’t been released yet. RemDawg also wanted to know who gave the Japanese media his home number because of all the media requests about the song and album.
Manny has been an All-Star in each of his 7 years with the Red Sox.
RemDawg pointed out they were taping the mature edition of “Sox Appeal” tonight.
Ellsbury’s steal in the 4th was the first of his short MLB career.
Tina Cervasio reported that Ellsbury isn’t a big clubhouse spread guy before the game and usually just has a protein shake. She said he’ll sometimes cheat and have a banana or an apple.
RemDawg pointed out the third date of Sox Appeal was going well because the guy was sitting right next to the lady. He said it reminded him of the old days when the girl would sit right next to you in the car.
RemDawg was pissed at Orsillo for making a face into the camera that was in the booth while RemDawg was saying to vote for Okajima.
The Sox record is now 50-31. It was the same last year.
The Sox now have 13 consecutive scoreless innings from the bullpen.
