In what started as a promising night and toward the end looked like a win for Curt Schilling turned into a bullpen disaster courtesy of Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima. The pair who are usually uber-reliable yielded the tying and go ahead homeruns in consecutive innings in a 6-4 Toronto win over Boston at Fenway Park.
But there were other failures for the Sox along the way as well, most notably leaving the bases loaded in the 7th and only getting one run with the bases loaded in the first and fifth.
The Red Sox jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning and I’ll give you one guess who was in the middle of it. Jacoby Ellsbury. He had a one out double down the line into left field off of Toronto starter Shawn Marcum, David Ortiz followed with a walk. Mike Lowell singled to center but because of how hard the ball was hit 3rd base coach DeMarlo Hale held Ellsbury at third to load the bases. JD Drew then hit the ball on screws but right at Jays second baseman Aaron Hill who had a little bobble on the ball and was only able to force Lowell at second allowing Ellsbury to score.
After that Marcum settled down and matched Boston starter Schilling pretty much over the next few innings. The Sox did have runners on in the second and third innings but a line drive turned into a twin killing in the second and Ortiz running into the third out in the third trying to stretch his single into a double ended any semblance of threats.
Meanwhile Schilling looked good through his first four innings. He gave up back-to-back singles to Frank Thomas and Troy Glaus to start the second but left them stranded. A lead off double by Alex Rios in the fourth looked like trouble but Rios helped Schilling out with a poor base running play and got trapped off of third base and caught in a run down for the second out of the inning. That effectively killed the Jays chances in the fourth.
The fifth though was a different story. A one out walk to Gregg Zaun looked harmless especially after it turned into two out and a runner on first. But Vernon Wells singled to center, Matt Stairs singled to left to score Zaun on a close relay at the plate by Lowell. Rios followed with his second hit a RBI single to right and it was 2-1 Toronto. Thomas’ second single of the night scored Stairs and it was 3-1 Jays, before Glaus flew out to a sliding Ellsbury to end the inning.
Boston got one back in the fifth when Jason Varitek walked for the second time and a bunt single by Coco Crisp put two on with no one out. Alex Cora failed to advance the runners and struck out, Julio Lugo singled to left and that loaded the bases for Ellsbury who hit a pitch off of his shoe tops to center for a sacrifice fly to cut the Toronto lead to 3-2. Ortiz then fouled out to Glaus along side the Blue Jay dugout and the Sox would have to settle for just the one run.
Brian Wolfe came on to pitch for Toronto in the sixth, he got the first two outs rather easily then he hit Youkilis on his right elbow. It was the 14th HBP for Youkilis this year. Varitek followed that up with a two run HR, his 13th, down the right field line inside the foul pole and the Red Sox reclaimed the lead 4-3. Just like that Marcum’s chance for a win was gone. Crisp hit a ball into the gap in left center, he was running all the way out of the box and beat the tag at second for a double. But he would end up being left there.
The Sox threatened in the seventh, facing Brandon League, Lugo led off with a walk. Scott Downs, who got Ellsbury to foul out to Glaus and then gave up a single to Ortiz, replaced League. John Gibbons went back to his bullpen for Casey Janssen who came in and wild pitched the runners to second and third, Lowell walked to fill the bases but Janssen came back to strike out Drew and Youkilis and escape the jam. Leaving the bases loaded with one out would comeback to haunt the Sox fairly quickly.
Delcarmen came on to pitch the eight and with one out he was greeted by Glaus’ 20th HR of the season a screaming blast down the left field line into the street to tie the game at 4-4. Schilling after having pitched pretty well again now will not be in line for his 9th win of the year and instead will take a no-decision like his Toronto counterpart, Marcum.
In the ninth the Sox brought in Okajima (3-2) to keep the door closed but he hit lead off man Zaun with a pitch. Russ Adams ran for Zaun and John McDonald sacrificed him to second. Wells then followed with a 2 run HR, his 16th of the year and third hit on the night, into the center field seats and the Blue Jays had a 6-4 lead. Okajima worked out of the inning but the damage was done.
Jays closer Jeremy Accardo (4-3) pitched an inning and two-thirds picking up the win by closing the Sox out in order in the ninth after coming in with out in the eighth when Janssen left with an injury.
Notes and Musings:
Tonight was the first time Schilling pitched against the Jays since September 27, 2005.
Tonight was the last game of the Sox 6-game homestand. They finished 4-2 winning 2 of three against Baltimore and Toronto.
Drew’s first inning RBI fielder choice was just his 49th RBI of the year. The Red Sox have paid Drew roughly $286,000 for each of those RBI this year ($14 million). Oh and after coming up twice tonight with the sacks juiced our $70 million dollar bust is 2 for 15 with the bases loaded this year. We got four more years of this.
The Sox are 84-56 a .600 winning percentage good for the best record in baseball. They are 44-25 at home, second best home record in baseball behind the Angels.
The Blue Jays are 29-41 on the road and 46-48 in night games. They are 24-26 against the AL East.
Since 2004, the Blue Jays are 15-12 at Fenway Park, but the Red Sox lead the all-time series 239-189 and 119-96 at Fenway Park.
Former Red Sox OF Matt Stairs has 4 HRs in his last 6 games. He leads all active Canadian-born players with 239 career HRs. Pittsburgh’s Jason Bay is second with 117.
Roy Halladay pitched his 7th complete game of the season last night. It was the 3rd one in which he has been the losing pitcher. Since 2002 he leads all MLB pitchers with 28 complete games and all AL pitchers with 91 wins.
The Double A teams of the Blue Jays (New Hampshire) and Red Sox (Portland) met last night in a one game playoff to see who plays the Yankees (Trenton) farm team in the playoffs. Portland won 7-4.
Shawn Marcum is 2-1 with 1 save in his career against Boston in 8 career games.
Mike Lowell went 0 for 4 on Tuesday snapping his 16 game hit streak. He has 101 RBI just 11 behind Butch Hobson’s team record for a 3rd baseman.
After the game the Sox fly to Baltimore to take on the Orioles at Fenway Park at Camden Yards in a four game series starting Thursday. Tim Wakefield will go for his 17th win of the year. A win would tie him with teammate Josh Beckett and New York’s Chien-Ming Wang for the major league lead in wins.
