Boston made the choice to call up Kason Gabbard over Jon Lester with Curt Schilling on the disabled list and tonight the choice wasn’t a smart one as Gabbard had trouble finding the strike zone as he walked 6 Seamen in just over 3 innings. Gabbard also yielded 6 hits, striking out two and allowing four earned runs, three of which scored via free passes. The Sox would battle back and take Gabbard off the hook but they couldn’t come all the way back as they dropped a tough 8-7 decision to the Mariners.
The first inning tonight at Safeco Field proved to be an adventure for both starting pitchers. One minimized the damage; the other was lucky to get out alive. Inning ending double plays saved the hurlers in both instances. Neither though was lucky enough to be around for a decision in this wild back and forth game.
The Red Sox got things rolling with consecutive singles by Coco Crisp and Dustin Pedroia to start the game, David Ortiz walked to juice the sacks and Kevin Youkilis singled to right to drive in Crisp and give the Beantowners a 1-0 lead with against Hernandez with no one out. “King Felix” then whiffed J.D. Drew and then Mike Lowell bounced into a inning and rally killing third to first double play.
Meanwhile though the M’s would strike back thanks in part to a serious case of the walksies by Gabbard. He would start off fine getting Ichiro Suzuki to strike out swinging but then the roof fell in. He walked Jose Lopez, gave up a single to Jose Vidro and then walked Richie Sexson to load the bases. He followed that up by hitting Kenji Johjima to bring in a run to tie the game at 1-1 and keep the bases full. He then walked Jose Guillen and Adrian Beltre back-to-back to make it 3-1 Seattle. Gabbard on the verge of being run out of town after 1/3 of an inning then got Yuni Betancourt to hit into a tailor made 6-4-3 double play to avert further disaster.
After Hernandez cruised through a 1-2-3 second the M’s came up swinging when #9 hitter Willie Bloomquist led off with a home run to left field to make it 4-1. Suzuki then got an infield hit off of Gabbard’s glove and Lopez smoked a single to left to put two on with no one out to bring out pitching coach John Farrell as Manny Del Carmen got loose again in the bullpen for the second consecutive inning. Vidro then grounded into one of those tailor made twin killings and Gabbard got Sexson swinging to avoid further trouble.
The top of the Sox lineup continued to do damage on their second time around against Hernandez. Crisp reached on an error by Sexson, Pedroia grounded out to Beltre moving Crisp to second, and Ortiz followed with a single he ripped through the shift into right to get Coco to third. Youkilis followed up with his second RBI single of the game to left to cut the Seafarer’s lead to 4-2 and put runners at first and second. Drew grounded into a fielder’s choice that got Youk forced at second and then Lowell lined out to Lopez to end the inning.
In the third Gabbard walked his fifth hitter of the night but was able to work around this one with a pair of fly outs to Crisp and a ground out to Lowell.
The Sox in the fourth looked as if they may threaten with some more runs but it wasn’t to be. Jason Varitek singled, Eric Hinske walked but Alex Cora hit into a double play and Crisp whiffed.
After Bloomquist grounded out to Cora at short, Suzuki singled to right; Lopez smoked a double to left to get Delcarmen up again for the third time. Gabbard then issued his 6th free pass this one to Vidro to load the bases and end his evening after just 3 and 1/3 innings. Delcarmen came in and whiffed Sexson and got Johjima to ground into a fielder’s choice to get out the jam with out any runs scoring.
The Sox came back and tied the game in the fifth at 4-4. Pedroia grounded out to short, Ortiz singled to center and Youkilis struck out. With two out Drew hit a hard single to right and then Lowell followed with a near miss home run to the 388-foot marker in left center field. He ended up with a 2-run triple. Varitek then struck out for the second time on the night to end the inning.
The Mariners quickly got those two runs back to take a 6-4 lead after five. After a Guillen ground out to Cora, Beltre singled, Betancourt got hit by a pitch and then Bloomquist singled to center to break the 4-4 tie with his 2nd RBI of the night. Suzuki followed up with a sacrifice fly to center to score Betancourt and it was 6-4 M’s. With Lopez at the plate and two out Varitek threw out Bloomquist trying to steal second to end the inning.
The Sox struck right back in 6th as part of this back and forth battle when Hinske led off with a solo homerun to right, Cora followed with a double off the right field wall and was sacrificed to third by Crisp. Pedroia then bounced back to Hernandez for the second out and was then lifted by Seattle manager Mike Hargrove. Lefty Eric O’Flaherty was brought in to face the ever-dangerous Ortiz with two out and the tying run at third. Big Papi didn’t disappoint as he flared a single to left field to tie the game at 6-6 with his third hit of the night. O’Flaherty uncorked a wild pitch to move Ortiz to second and then on the following pitch he hit Youkilis. Drew then flew out to Suzuki in the right center field gap to end the threat.
Back and forth we continued to go into the bottom of the sixth as Javier Lopez came on to pitch. He got Lopez to fly out, then Vidro singled to right and Sexson followed with a 2 run home run to right to make it 8-6 in favor of the Navigators. It was the first home run Lopez has allowed this season. Johjima then grounded out to Cora and then Guillen reached on an infield single and went to second on a throwing error by Cora on a throw that Youkilis couldn’t scoop. Beltre then lined out to Lowell to end the inning.
The Sox only managed a two out single by Hinske in the 7th off of Brandon Morrow who struck out two to preserve the Seattle lead.
In the bottom of the seventh Betancourt walked to lead off the inning, Bloomquist sacrificed him to second and then Suzuki was walked intentionally and Mike Timlin was brought on to face Lopez with two on and one out. Lopez flew out to Drew to move Betancourt to third with two out. Timlin got out of the jam by getting Vidro to fly to center.
The Sox looked to threaten in the eighth they put Crisp on with a walk, Pedroia followed with a single to right to move Crisp to third. Julio Lugo came on to run for Pedroia and George Sherrill came in to face Ortiz. Ortiz whiffed and Hargrove went to his closer J.J. Putz for five outs. Youkilis hit a sac fly to center to score Crisp for this third RBI of the night and cut the M’s lead to 8-7. Lugo then stole second but Drew grounded out to Sexson who flipped to Putz covering to hold on to the 8-7 lead.
Hideki “Darkman” Okajima came on and only gave up a single to Johjima and held the game at 8-7 as they headed to the ninth.
Putz struck out Lowell on a high called third strike for the first out. Varitek then got the “Golden Sombrero” with his fourth K of the night when he couldn’t lay off the high heat from Putz. Manny Ramirez then pinch hit for Hinske and he would go down swinging as Putz struck out the side and is now a perfect 22 for 22 in save situations in 2007.
Notes and Musings:
Eric Hinske started in left in place of Manny Ramirez and Alex Cora started at short in place of the uber-slumping Julio Lugo.
Ichiro Suzuki’s 19 game hit streak was snapped last night with an 0 for 4.
The Mariners have won 4 straight and 6 of their last 7. They have won the last 7 games against Boston at Safeco Field.
Former Mariner and Red Sox 1B John Olerud threw out the first pitch before tonight’s game.
Hideki “Darkman” Okajima has not allowed a run in his last 9.1 innings to lower his ERA to 0.96 second best among relievers in MLB.
The Sox ten game lead over Toronto is the largest of any division leader. They have had a double-digit lead for 24 days this season.
Kevin Youkilis played his 120th consecutive errorless game at first base last night, setting a club record for first basemen.
Kason Gabbard is tied for 4th in wins in the International League with 7. His 3.24 ERA ranks him 9th in the IL.
Gabbard last pitched for Boston on May 20th v Atlanta. He earned the victory in the 6-3 with 2 ER’s and 7 strikeouts in 5 innings. This was his 6th major league start; his first was last July in Seattle.
We learned tonight that Red Sox Nation President Jerry Remy only goes sightseeing from his hotel room window. He said even as a player he never explored the cities he visited.
With Daisuke’s Music from the Mound CD and the rap style single Gyroball being released President Remy and Don Orsillo have come up with their rap names for the Japanese Media. Remy will be “Rem Dawgy Dawg” and Orsillo will be known as “Run DO”.
