By the end of the 2nd inning, the Boston Red Sox found themselves in a 7-0 hole thanks to some craptastic pitching from Brad Penny. But not to worry, the offense stayed awake and the Red Sox bullpen was once again strong as they came back to beat the Baltimore Orioles 10-8 in front of 38,266 on a beautiful night for baseball at Fenway Park.
It’s the second straight win for the Red Sox who improve to 4-6 while the Oriole fall to 6-4.
Penny really had trouble with all of his pitches and just looked like he was gliding the ball over the plate. He did go 3 innings, allowing 8 runs on 6 hits and 5 walks while striking out 1. Manny Delcarmen, Javier Lopez, Ramon Ramirez (1-0), Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon combined to throw 6 innings of five-hit ball with 1 walk and 4 strikeouts.
Jeremy Guthrie was staked to a 7-run lead but faltered in the 2nd and 5th innings although his defense didn’t help him out. He went 4 2/3 innings, allowing 8 runs (5 earned) on 8 hits and 4 walks and had 5 strikeouts. Danys Baez worked 1 1/3 innings allowing 2 runs on 2 hits and a walk and a strikeout. Matt Albers worked the final two innings, allowing 2 hits and 2 walks with a strikeout.
Dustin Pedroia led the Red Sox with 3 hits while Jacoby Ellsbury and Nick Green each had 2 hits with Ellsbury adding a RBI and Green had 2 of his own. J.D. Drew was perfect at the plate as he was 2-for-2 (solo home run, triple) with 3 walks and an RBI. Jason Bay continues to swing a hot stick as his 2-run homer got the Red Sox back in the game. It was his only hit of the night but he knocked in 3 runs total. Mike Lowell and David Ortiz had the other RBI.
Both teams managed a hit a piece in the 1st inning but in the 2nd things took a turn for the worse.
Ty Wigginton led off the inning with a single off of Penny and Luke Scott followed with a single. Penny then walked Gregg Zaun to load the bases up and then walked in a run when he gave Ryan Freel the free pass. After Cesar Izturis lined out, Brian Roberts laced a single to score Scott and give the O’s a 2-0 lead. Another bases loaded walk, this time 
to Adam Jones, forced in another run to make it 3-0. Markakis then took a decent pitch from Penny and crushed into the center field seats for a grand slam and just like that it was a 7-0 Orioles lead. Penny escaped any further trouble that inning by getting Aubrey Huff to pop out and Wigginton to fly out.
As we saw last season, you can never really count out the Red Sox. They continued that trend as they chipped away at what should have been an insurmountable lead.
Guthrie walked Drew to start the home half of 2nd and Bay followed with a 2-run homer to make it 7-2 Orioles. Guthrie walked Lowell and Varitek singled up the middle off the second base bag with Lowell going first to third even with the hip. Green flew out to right with Lowell staying put at third although he probably could have scored since Markakis’ throw home was off line. Ellsbury made it 7-3 with a single that scored Lowell. Pedroia loaded the bases up with an infield single and Big Papi hit a sac fly to score the Captain to make it 7-4. Guthrie got out of the inning by getting Kevin Youkilis to ground out to third.
Drew made it 7-5 when he led off the bottom of the 3rd with a solo home run.
Penny came back out for the 4th inning and walked Jones to end his evening. Delcarmen came in and gave up a double to Markakis that scored Jones to make it 8-5. That would be the last time an Orioles baserunner would touch home plate.
Guthrie got the first two outs of the 5th inning and then Drew nailed a triple to deep center. Guthrie then had a bit of wildness as he issued walks to Bay and Lowell. Varitek then reached when Huff booted an grounder that allowed Drew to score and cut the lead to 8-6. Green followed with a double to tie the game up at 8. Baez came in for Guthrie and got Ellsbury to ground out.
Baez was back on for the 6th and gave up a leadoff single to Pedroia. After Big Papi struck out, Baez nailed Youk in the head with a pitch and then walked Drew to load the sacks full of Sox. Bay gave the Red Sox a lead with a sacrifice fly and Lowell followed with a single to make it 10-8.
The Red Sox had a chance to tack on more runs in the bottom of the 7th when they loaded the bases up with no outs off Albers. He recovered though as he struck out Big Papi and got Youk to ground into a 6-4-3 inning-ending twin killing.
Absolutely great outing for the Red Sox bullpen tonight as they have now thrown 16 straight scoreless innings. It’s obvious all the Red Sox needed was a little home cooking as they looked a little more comfortable at the plate.
These same two teams are back at it again tomorrow night at 7:10 PM. Josh Beckett will start for the Red Sox and Adam Eaton for the Orioles.
Notes and musings:
Baltimore Orioles @ Boston Red Sox 4.17.09 box score
The Red Sox honored former infielder Pumpsie Green tonight on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his breaking the color barrier for the ballclub in 1959. He threw out a first pitch as part of the club’s annual Jackie Robinson Day ceremonies.
Green’s debut with the Red Sox was on July 21, 1959 against the White Sox in Chicago when he came into the game in the top of the 8th inning as a pinch runner for Vic Wertz. During four years in a Red Sox uniform, Green batted .244 in 327 games with 12 home runs and 69 RBI along with a .353 on-base percentage.
The Red Sox debuted their new home red alternate jerseys. The club also wore the new “Hanging Sox” cap tonight for the first time at Fenway Park. Boston will wear the “Hanging Sox” cap for all Friday night games this season, with the alternate blue top on the road and red top at home in those contests.
David Ortiz owns 24 career home runs against the Orioles, his 4th highest total against any major league team behind Tampa Bay (34), Toronto (31) and New York (25). His 24 round trippers vs. Baltimore rank 9th among active players, one behind Jim Thome for 8th on that list.
Coming into tonight, Jonathan Papelbon owns a 0.43 ERA (1 ER/21.0 IP) in 22 career games against Baltimore, 4th all-time among pitchers with at least 20.0 innings vs. the O’s.
