Fresh off a complete game shutout in his last start, Kason Gabbard pitched 7 strong innings and Coco Crisp had 5 RBI as the Red Sox destroyed the White Sox 11-2. The win was Gabby’s 4th of the season, all of which have come at the Fens. Crisp got his 5 RBI on three hits. In his last 29 games, Crisp has robust .370 avg and his season batting average now stands at .271 avg. Out of the Red Sox starters, only Manny Ramirez and Wily Mo Peña were hitless.
Gabbard and White Sox starter John Danks both had easy first innings. In the second, Gabbard ran into a little bit of trouble through no fault of his own.
Paul Konerko led off the 2nd with a hotshot to Wily Mo in left that he totally misplayed into a double. It was initially ruled an error but later changed. Gabbard then got the struggling Jermaine Dye to ground back to him for the first out. Josh Fields followed that with a double of his own scoring Konerko for a 1-0 wrong Sox lead. Gabby got himself out of the inning by retiring Andy Gonzalez and Juan Uribe.
The hometown boys put a crooked number on the Green Monster scoreboard in the 2nd inning. Kevin Youkilis led off the inning with a walk and then Danks got J.D. Drew to strikeout swinging. Youk moved to second when Danks issued another walk, this time to Mike Lowell. Varitek followed with a single to load up the bases. Youk had no chance of scoring with the injured quad, setting the stage for the first of three times Coco would bat with the bases juiced. With the lefty Danks on the mound, Coco was batting righthanded and laced a single into left that scored Youk and Lowell, giving the local nine a 2-1 lead. Danks got out of the inning as he got WMP to ground into an inning ending double play.
From the 3rd inning to the 6th inning, the game was boring as both pitchers were dominant on the mound. In the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings, Danks only allowed one hit, a double to Julio Lugo. After allowing the hit to the Fields in the 2nd inning, Gabbard had retired 8 straight batters until Fields reached on a Lugo error to start the 6th inning. Gabbard then got Gonzalez to ground into a fielder’s choice. He would get out of the inning as he induced a 1-6-3 double play by Uribe.
Danks got into a wee bit of trouble in the Red Sox half of the 6th. Dustin Pedroia led off the inning with a single but Danks got Manny to ground into a fielder’s choice. Youk followed that with a single, moving Manny over to second. Danks then gave up a double to Drew scoring Manny with the Bosox 3rd run. Youk moved over to third on the play. Danks then issued a walk to Lowell, loading up the bases for Tek. Danks got Tek to ground into a fielder’s choice, with Youk retired at the plate. Coco then came up with the sacks full for the second time and again didn’t disappoint the Fenway Faithful as he delivered a run-scoring single with Drew crossing the plate, giving the Red Sox a 4-1 lead. Lowell was thrown out at the plate trying to score for the third out.
Gabbard had another easy inning in the 7th. The only runner in the 7th was when he issued a two out walk to Dye. Gabby got Fields to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Ozzie Guillen went to his bullpen in the 7th inning and probably wishes he didn’t. Eric Hinske, pinch-hitting for WMP, led off the inning with a single off of Ehren Wassermann. As Wassermann was striking out Lugo, Hinske took off for and stole second base. Wassermann then got Pedroia to strikeout swinging for the second out of the inning. Then the roof caved in for the White Sox bullpen. With Hinske on second and Manny at the plate, Guillen decided to intentionally walk Manny to face Youk. That move failed as Wasserman walked Youk to load up the bases for Drew. Before Drew got to the plate, Guillen went to his beleaguered bullpen again and brought in the lefty Boone Logan. Drew drew a walk off of Logan to make it 5-1 Red Sox. Guillen went to his bullpen again and brought in Dewon Day. Day was no better as he issued a walk to Lowell bringing in the 6th run of the day for local nine. Day then walked in his second run and third of the inning as he issued the free pass to Tek. Coco came up for his third time with the bases loaded and delivered again as he uncorked a 2-run single, making it 9-1 Red Sox. Hinske, batting for the 2nd time in the inning, brought home two more runs with a bases clearing triple, giving the Red Sox a commanding 11-1 lead. Day got out of the inning as Lugo struck out for the second time in the seven run 7th for the home team.
Gabby came out for the 8th inning but after a 38 minute wait, Terry Francona decided to go to the bullpen and brought in Javier Lopez. Gabbard departed the game to another standing ovation from the Fenway Faithful. Lopez allowed two hits in the inning but got out of the inning by getting Tadahito Iguchi to ground into a fielder’s choice.
Gabby went 7 innings, allowing 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk and he struck out 1 to move his record to 4-0. All of his wins have come at the Fens.
Joel Piñero came in for the 9th inning as the White Sox tried to overcome a 10 run deficit. Alex Cintron, pinch-hitting for Thome, led off with a fly ball out to Coco in center. Luis Terrero, who had come in defensively for Dye, laced a single off of Piñero and came around to score when Rob Macowiak tattooed a ball of the Green Monster for a double. Piñero mopped up the last two outs as he retired Fields and Gonzalez to end the game.
The win moved the Red Sox to 5-5 on the 11-game homestand. Tim Wakefield will try for his 11th win of the season tomorrow as he takes the ball for the Bosox. Gametime is 2:05 PM.
