Tough day for the Boston Red Sox as they made the trip north to Bradenton to play the Pittsburgh Pirates and fell 9-4 on Sunday afternoon.
Josh Beckett started this one for the Red Sox and looked good for the first four innings of the game. He did allow a home run on a pitch that he left up in the zone to John Bowker in the second inning. But things really came unglued for him in the 5th.
Beckett left another pitch up in the zone that Ronny Cedeno blasted out of the ballpark. Former Red Sox farmhand Dusty Brown worked a walk off of Beckett and Andy Marte followed that up with a double. Beckett’s afternoon ended when he plunked Jose Tabata in the back to load the bases.
Scott Atchison came in and allowed a RBI single to Neil Walker and then a two-run double to Pedro Alvarez. Lyle Overbay also knocked in two runs in the inning that were charged to Atchison, who allowed the two runs on four hits and a walk with a strikeout in the inning.
Daniel Bard struck out two in his inning of work while Andrew Miller walked one and struck out one in his inning. Lenny DiNardo allowed two runs on four hits in the 8th inning.
The Red Sox managed just six hits on the afternoon led by Lars Anderson who had two hits including a solo home run. Mike Cameron added a hit and two RBIs. Darnell McDonald had the other Red Sox RBI on the afternoon with a solo home run of his own.
Boston will be back in Ft. Myers on Monday night when their hated rivals, the New York Yankees come to City of Palms Park. Former Yankee Alfredo Aceves will make the start for the Red Sox. Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez are expected to be in the lineup. Brandon Duckworth, Dennys Reyes, Bobby Jenks, Rich Hill and Hideki Okajima are also scheduled to pitch for the Red Sox.
Sergio Mitre will make the start for the Yankees with Nick Swisher, Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner making the trip south.
The game will begin at 7:05 p.m. and will be televised in the Red Sox television market on NESN. It will also be available for those not in the Red Sox television market on ESPN2.
To continue reading, click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click
Matsuzaka tweaks his throwing program [Clubhouse Insider]
Beckett good until the end, Cam’s back and other notes [Clubhouse Insider]
Beckett fans five in ‘ruined’ spring loss [CSNNE.com]
Notes: Aceves to replace Buchholz vs. Yankees [CSNNE.com]
Will power quotient rise for Ellsbury? [ESPN Boston]
Gonzo wants to play all 162? Tito: ‘No problem with that’ [ESPN Boston]
Six-run fifth spoils strong outing for Beckett [ESPN Boston]
Little more lasting power for Lars [ESPN Boston]
Crawford, Gonzalez both scheduled to face Yankees Monday [ESPN Boston]
Aceves experiment continues vs. Yankees [ESPN Boston]
Sunday morning notes: Change comes for Daisuke [Full Count]
Beckett: Outing “ruined” by final frame [Projo Sox Blog]
Atchison’s struggles not all his fault [Projo Sox Blog]
Anderson makes some noise at the plate [Projo Sox Blog]
Simulated games for Buchholz, Wakefield [RedSox.com]
Matsuzaka tries tweaking side schedule [RedSox.com]
Adrian’s mindset is to play every day with Sox [RedSox.com]
Now healthy, Cameron showing what he can do [RedSox.com]
Beckett’s success depends on changeup [RedSox.com]
For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSNNE, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal and WEEI websites.
Photo credit: Getty Images
