The Cleveland Indians came into Fenway Park with nothing to gain tonight other than keeping their record above .500. They got a strong effort from Zach Johnson and held on to beat to the Boston Red Sox 4-3 in front of 37,828.
The loss for the Red Sox drops them to 2.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East and also keeps their magic number at 1 since the New York Yankees were off tonight.
Josh Beckett couldn't help the Red Sox clinch a playoff spot.
Josh Beckett started for the Red Sox and was dominating at times but also had his wild moments. He went 6 innings allowing 4 runs on 7 hits, a walk and 3 hit batters while striking out 6. Javier Lopez worked 1/3 of an inning, giving up a hit and a walk. Justin Masterson was awesome of the bullpen as he threw 1 2/3 innings striking out 1. Hideki Okajima struck out 2 in his inning of work.
Offensively the Red Sox were led by Kevin Youkilis who went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI. David Ortiz added 2 hits including a solo home run while Jason Bay and Jacoby Ellsbury each had 2 hits as well.
Beckett had an easy 1st inning throwing just 14 pitches but had some troubles in the 2nd inning.
After getting the first two outs, Ben Francisco reached on a ground rule double. Beckett then plunked Ryan Garko and Kelly Shoppach to load up the bases. Asdrubal Cabrera worked a bases loaded walk to force in Francisco for the first Indians run. Beckett rebounded to strikeout Grady Sizemore to escape any further damage.
The Red Sox had a tough time with Johnson. They did manage a double and a walk in the 1st inning and finally got to him in the 3rd.
After a Jeff Bailey ground out, Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a single. Johnson got Dustin Pedroia to fly out and then issued a walk to Big Papi. Youk knocked Ellsbury in with a double to tie the game at 1 with Big Papi stopping at third. Jackson got out of the inning by striking out Bay for the second time.
Beckett worked around a Francisco double in the 4th but ran into some more trouble in the 5th inning.
Cabrera led off with a single and went to second on Sizemore ground out. Jamey Carroll gave the Indians a 2-1 lead as his single scored Cabrera. With Shin-Soo Choo at the plate, Beckett uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Carroll to advance to second. Choo pushed the lead to 3-1 with a single that scored Carroll from second. Jhonny Peralta then hit a ground rule double to put runners on second and third. Beckett got Travis Hafner to ground out but Choo scored to give the Indians a 4-1 lead. Beckett then plunked Francisco but got out of the inning when Garko hit into a fielder’s choice.
The Red Sox got a run back in the bottom half of the inning when Big Papi hit a 2-out home run to cut the lead to 4-2.
Jason Bay talks to DeMarlo Hale after Bay was thrown out in a rundown.
Bay led off the 6th with a single and then Lowrie flied out to right. A Mark Kotsay ground out moved Bay to second. Jackson then walked Varitek and Bailey followed with a scorcher down the line that hit the third base umpire. Bay was rounding third when he realized where the ball was and went back to third but he was unable to beat the tag as he went back to third.
Rafael Perez took over for Jackson in the 7th and gave up a leadoff infield single to Ellsbury. Pedroia followed with a single as Ellsbury stopped at second. Perez got Big Papi to ground into a fielder’s choice that saw Pedroia retired at second. Rafael Betancourt came in for Perez and was greeted by a Youk double that scored Ellsbury to cut the lead to 4-3. The Indians decided to intentionally walk Bay and the move paid off as Lowrie struck out looking and Kotsay flew out.
The Red Sox staged a two-out rally in the 9th off of Jensen Lewis when Youk had a 2-out single and Bay followed with a double. Lewis ended the Red Sox hopes of a celebration tonight as he struck out Lowrie to end the game.
Tim Wakefield will try to help the Red Sox celebrate tomorrow night but the task won’t be easy as he will be opposed by 22-game and probable Cy Young winner Cliff Lee.
Notes and musings:
Indians @ Red Sox 9.22.08 boxscore
The Red Sox game against the Yankees on Saturday has been changed from a 7:05 PM game to one that starts at 3:55 PM. It will now be broadcast on FOX instead of NESN.
Boston ranks 3rd in the A.L. with 117 stolen bases, the team’s most in the last 92 years (beginning 1917). Sox had 118+ SB 14 times from 1901-16 with a club record 215 in 1909.
Three Red Sox have at least 19 SBs: Jacoby Ellsbury (49), Coco Crisp (20), and Dustin Pedroia (19). Team last had 3 players with 20+ steals in 1914: Tris Speaker (42), Hal Janvrin (29), and Duffy Lewis (22).
Daisuke Matsuzaka improved his record to 18-2 Sunday at Toronto. Matsuzaka and Cleveland’s Cliff Lee (22-2) are only the 3rd pair of pitchers in major-league history to each win at least 18 of their 1st 20 decisions in the same season.
The 3-0 win on Sunday was the Red Sox’ 16th shutout of the season, the most in the majors and Boston’s 2nd most in a season in the last 30 years (17 in 2002).
The three hit batters for Josh Beckett were the most he’s had in any one game in his career.
Sox on streaks:
Jacoby Ellsbury has an 13-game hitting streak
Mike Lowell has a 3-game hitting streak
David Ortiz has a 3-game hitting streak
Dustin Pedroia has a 3-game hitting streak
