Just moments after Chien-Mien Wang picked up his 18th win of the season, Jonathan Papelbon finished off the Orioles 3-2 to give Josh Beckett his 18th win of the season. The 18 wins by Beckett represents his career high. Beckett went 7 strong innings in the win. The save for Papelbon was his 35th, which tied his total from last season.
After a relatively quiet first two innings for both squads, the Red Sox broke up the scoreless tie in the 3rd inning. After Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie got the first two outs of the inning, Dustin Pedroia got the second of his three hits on the day with a single. Pedroia went to third on a David Ortiz double to deep right field. Both of them would come around to score on a Mike Lowell single, giving the Sox a 2-0 lead. Lowell continues his assault toward Butch Hobson’s franchise record of 112 RBIs for a third baseman as he now has 103. Can anyone say big payday? Guthrie then walked J.D. Drew but got out of the inning as he fanned Kevin Youkilis.
Beckett scattered four hits over the first 3 innings but gave up a run in the 4th. Aubrey Huff struck out for the first out of the inning. Beckett then threw a fastball that he left up in the zone that Melvin Mora planted in the seats, cutting the Sox lead to 2-1. Beckett got Ramon Hernandez and Freddie Bynum on ground balls.
After giving up the two runs in the 3rd, Guthrie had settled down. In the 6th, he issued a lead-off walk to Youk. With Jason Varitek at the plate, Youk stole second base on the third pitch of the at-bat. After Guthrie threw the fifth pitch of the at-bat, the trainer and manager came out as Guthrie was injured. Jaime Walker came in and walked Varitek. Coco tried to sacrifice the runners but Hernandez threw to third to get a non-sliding Youk. Walker got Alex Cora to fly out and Jacoby Ellsbury to ground out.
Baltimore got another run in the 6th inning as Beckett gave up his second gopher ball of the day to Nick Markakis. The homer by Markakis tied the game at 2. He then retired the next 3 batters of the inning.
Beckett started off the 7th inning hitting Hernandez with a pitch (payback for Daniel Cabrera throwing at Pedroia). Brandon Fahey came in to pinch-run for Hernandez, giving the Oreos some speed on the bases. Bynum moved Fahey over to third with a sacrifice bunt. Kevin Millar, pinch-hitting for Luis Hernandez, moved Fahey over to third with a ground out to Cora at short. The last batter Beckett faced, Brian Roberts, gave him a battle but in the end it was Beckett who won with a strikeout of Roberts.
Beckett went 7 innings, giving up 7 hits, 2 runs and he struck out 8 on 116 pitches. He didn’t walk anyone.
For Beckett to get his 18th win, he would need some help from his hitting buddies on the team. Drew led off the inning with a single off reliever Chad Bradford. Youk made the first out when Roberts made a jumping catch of a weak liner. With Varitek at the plate, Drew took off for second on what was probably a hit-and-run. Varitek ended up hitting a deep fly to center that was deep enough to move Drew to third. Coco Crisp brought in the eventual winning run as Drew scored easily on his single. Kurt Birkins came in for Bradford and got Cora for the final out of the inning.
The Red Sox went to their bread and butter in the 8th inning as Hideki Okajima came in and worked a perfect 1-2-3 8th inning. Papelbon came on and gave up a single to Mora but worked out of it with strikeouts of yesterday’s hero Scott Moore and Bynum.
The Sox return home to the Fens on Monday to face the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Curt Schilling will get the ball and face Scott Kazmir, who always seems to face the Sox. The Yanks, who trail the Sox by 5.5 games in the AL East, come in on Friday after a off day for the Red Sox on Thursday.
Notes and Musings:
The Orioles have officially lost their ace, Erik Bedard, for the season. He was placed on the 60-day DL with a strained oblique.
No Tina Cervasio in the pregame show as Don Orsillo did the Red Sox insider report today with Gordon Edes. NESN producer Russ Kenn handled the postgame interviews.
During the pregame show, they were showing a shot of a lady in the stands doing the same stretches as Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie.
For you Amalie Benjamin fans, she will appearing on Lights Out on NESN tonight at 11:25 PM.
Jacoby Ellsbury was the Bertucci’s Player of the Week on NESN.
With the off day for the Sox on Thursday, NESN will relive the no-hitter by Clay Buchholz at 7 PM Thursday night.
Manny Ramirez is expected to work out at Fenway today at 3 PM with one of the trainers.
Eric Gagné should be available tomorrow after having today off after his bullpen session yesterday.
The Red Sox have 3 of the 8 hitters in batting average going into today’s game (Ortiz, Lowell, and Pedroia).
The Red Sox have the best day record in MLB at 31-13.
10 of Beckett’s 18 wins have come on the road.
Jonathan Papelbon now has back-to-back 35 save seasons.
The Red Sox magic number is 10 to make the playoffs and as you can see on the side, 14 to win the division.
The pitching matchups for the upcoming Devil Rays series:
- Monday: Scott Kazmir, LHP (11-8, 3.79) vs Curt Schilling, RHP (8-6, 4.04)
- Tuesday: Andy Sonnanstine, RHP (5-9, 5.73) vs Tim Wakefield, RHP (16-10, 4.39)
- Wednesday: Edwin Jackson, RHP (4-14, 6.00) vs Jon Lester, LHP (4-0, 4.47)
