There was no dramatic moment for the Red Sox tonight as Twins closer Joe Nathan was able to work out of the bases loaded jam he created to preserve a 5-4 win for the Twins. The loss by the Sox and a win by the Yankees tonight drops the lead in the AL East to two games with three games to play.
Josh Beckett was on the mound tonight in search of his 21st win that probably would have locked up the Cy Young for him but he wasn’t as sharp as he probably wanted to be heading into the playoffs. He will be the Sox game 1 starter though. It’s not that he was entirely bad, he just wasn’t hitting his spots.
The Twinkies got on the scoreboard first at the Fens. Jason Bartlett led off the festivities with a single and scored as Jason Kubel crushed a mistake pitch by Beckett to deep center for a triple. With the infield basically conceding the run, Torii Hunter grounded to Julio Lugo who threw the ball home to get Kubel at the plate. Kubel had hesitated coming down the line leaving it open for Lugo to throw home. Beckett and Jason Varitek combined on the final two outs of the inning as Beckett got Justin Morneau on a strikeout and Varitek threw out Hunter trying to steal second.
Boof Bonser took the ball for the Twins and didn’t pitch great but was still able to get his 8th win. Dustin Pedroia led off with a single but was retired at second when Manny Ramirez hit into a fielder’s choice. Manny showed no ill effects from the strained oblique as he went from first to home on a David Ortiz double. The double by Ortiz, who was 4 for 4 on the night, tied the game at 1. Mike Lowell moved Big Papi to third as he grounded out to short. J.D. Drew kept up his hot end to the season as his single scored Big Papi and gave the Sox a 2-1 lead. With Varitek at the plate, Drew got himself into scoring position by stealing just his 4th base of the season. Varitek ended up walking. Bonser got Jacoby Ellsbury to strikeout but the ball was in the dirt and Matthew Lecroy threw the ball away for an error to load up the bases for Eric Hinske. Bonser finally got the fourth third out as Hinske grounded out to first.
Michael Cuddyer led off the 2nd inning with a home run over the Green Monster that is probably still getting knocked around by cars on the Mass Pike. Beckett then struck out the next two batters before Brian Buscher singled and then stole second. Nick Punto made the third out as he flew out to Ellsbury in center.
The Twins roughed up Josh for another run in the 3rd inning to retake the lead. Bartlett led off with a double and went to third on a ground out by Kubel. Hunter, probably playing his last games as a member of the Twins, brought in Bartlett on sac fly to give the Twins a 3-2 lead.
Minnesota made it 4-2 when Hunter brought in Nick Punto on an infield single that Pedroia made a great play on.
Big Papi got his 34th home run of the season in the 5th when he crushed a Bonser offering into the right field seats to cut the lead to 1. Bonser then retired the next three batters to get out of the inning.
The lead went back up to two runs when Garrett Jones crushed a one out Beckett offering for a home run to center field. Beckett followed that up with a strikeout of Lecroy and got Buscher to ground out.
Moving forward to the 8th inning with the game in the hands of the bullpen, Varitek pulled the Sox to 5-4 with a home run off Twins reliever Matt Guerrier. He got Bobby Kielty to strikeout but then allowed singles to Lugo and Hinske. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire went to the bullpen for his closer Joe Nathan who came into the game in a driving rain that had begun to fall. Nathan got Pedroia to pop out to end the Sox chance at a rally in the 8th inning.
Nathan got himself into trouble in the 9th. Brandon Moss started things off with a double and then Nathan walked Big Papi. Royce Clayton came into pinch-run for Big Papi. Both Moss and Clayton moved up 90 feet as Lowell moved them over on a ground out. Nathan then intentionally walked Drew to face Varitek. The Captain ended up striking out to set the stage for pinch-hitter Kevin Youkilis. Nathan ended up winning that battle as well as he struck out Youk swinging to end the game.
The Sox will try again tomorrow to put a dent in the magic number as Daisuke Matsuzaka gets the ball. Gametime is 7:05 PM.
Notes and Musings:
Jacoby Ellsbury left the game after the 4th inning with a cramp. Bobby Kielty replaced him and J.D. Drew moved over to center.
Hideki Okajima returned to the bullpen and looked like the old Okajima.
Coco Crisp is still out with a viral infection.
