For two-thirds of the 2009 season, Paul Byrd was sitting at home in semi-retirement enjoying life and his family. On August 5th when the Boston Red Sox came calling, Byrd decided to end that retirement and play baseball again. He made four rehab starts before being asked to start on Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park.
Byrd was outstanding on Sunday afternoon as he threw six scoreless innings to help the Red Sox to a 7-0 win and 3-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays in front of 37,560 at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox move to 22-games above .500 at 76-54 and will at least maintain their 2.5 game lead over the Texas Rangers in the wild card standings pending the outcome of their game against the Minnesota Twins. The Tampa Bay Rays lost to the Detroit Tigers and fall 5.5 games behind the Red Sox in the wild card. The New York Yankees won on Sunday so the Red Sox remain six games behind them for the lead in the AL East.
Byrd doesn’t throw that hard at all but he was able to use all four of his pitches and command them during his six innings of work. He allowed three hits and walked three and struck out one on 83 pitches to pick up the win in his 2009 debut.
Manny Delcarmen worked around a leadoff walk in the 7th to set the side down. Billy Wagner made his Red Sox debut and was nasty as he struck three of the four batters he faced. The other, Adam Lind, reached on a 1-out double. Takashi Saito swept up in the 9th by striking out two and then working around a walk and a double to preserve the shutout.
Roy Halladay’s struggles continued for him as he allowed four runs on seven hits and a walk with six strikeouts in six innings of work.
Shawn Camp had a rough inning of work as his throwing error led to two runs for the Red Sox. He ended up allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits and also recorded a strikeout. Jesse Carlson struck out two of the three batters he faced.
Kevin Youkilis led the Red Sox offense with two hits and three RBI. Alex Gonzalez added two hits and an RBI while Rocco Baldelli’s only hit of the afternoon was good enough for a monster solo home run off the Sports Authority sign above the Green Monster. The only member of the starting nine without a hit on Sunday was Jason Varitek.
The Red Sox are off on Monday and will return to action on Tuesday night when they head to Tropicana Field for a 3-game set with the Rays. Jon Lester will make the start and he’ll be opposed by Andy Sonnanstine, who’ll be recalled from Triple-A Durham to make the start after the trade of Scott Kazmir to the Angels.
