If it weren’t for a rare one bad inning from Josh Beckett on Thursday afternoon, the Boston Red Sox might have beaten the Kansas City Royals. And if it weren’t the wind knocking down a Carl Crawford fly ball, the Red Sox would have walked with a 5-4 win instead of falling 4-3.
Crawford came into the game as a pinch-hitter for Jason Varitek in the bottom of the 9th with Drew Sutton on first base and one out in the inning. Royals closer had Crawford at 1-2 and threw a slider down and in that Crawford absolutely crushed to right field. Unfortunately for him, the wind knocked it down and Jeff Francoeur was able to make a basket catch for the second out of the inning. Yamaico Navarro would strike out to end the game.
According to ESPN Stats, Crawford’s fly ball out would have been a home run in all 29 other big league parks. Of course if he hit it about 10-15 feet right of where the ball was caught, it would have wrapped itself around the corner at Pesky’s Pole.
Beckett was seemingly cruising right along through the first three innings. He allowed just one hit while striking out four. Thanks to a double play ball off the bat of Francoeur, he had faced the minimum nine batters.
He entered the fateful 4th inning with a 2-0 lead after three straight hits to start the 3rd off Luke Hochevar. Varitek had gotten it started with a single followed by a Navarro double. Jacoby Ellsbury brought them both in with a single for that 2-0 lead.
In that 4th though, Beckett lost command of all of his pitches. He was basically all over the place. The pitches that got hit weren’t right at anyone. In other words, they were solid base hits.
Beckett walked Mitch Maier and Alex Gordon only to leave a fastball over the plate for Billy Butler to hit into the Green Monster. After the game, Beckett said that was the only ball hit to someone and it was to fan in the Monster seats. After an out from Eric Hosmer, Francouer reached on a Sutton error and came around on a Mike Moustakas double to make it 4-2.
After that Beckett essentially settled back down while Hochevar kept the Red Sox offense at bay.
The Red Sox would get their final run in the 8th when Dustin Pedroia led off the inning with a home run into the Monster seats. It turned out to be the hit that extended Pedroia’s hitting streak to 25 games. Of course only Pedey would have a flair for the dramatic like that. If you had seen the look on Terry Francona’s face after the home run, you knew the guys weren’t going to hear the end of it for a while.
Of course with the way Pedroia talks, you weren’t going to anyways.
It’s disappointing whenever the Red Sox lose. But when you go 2-2 against the last place team in the AL Central, it’s even more so. Nothing against the Royals at all, they have a good young hitting team. But it just seems like whenever Beckett is pitching, the Red Sox bats go to sleep.
Despite his one bad inning, he deserves better. With all the injuries in the rotation this year, he’s been the main cog out there. And while we expect him to win every time out, it would be nice to see the offense break out for him just once like they seemingly do with the other starters in the Red Sox rotation.
The Red Sox are now off to Chicago for a quick three-game road trip in the Windy City against the White Sox.
We’ll be back later today with this evening’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day. But for now, enjoy the overnight links from the media by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click
Sox a bit short [Boston Globe]
Bedard watch heating up [Boston Globe]
Going a long way for streak [Boston Globe]
For Martin, odd jobs to getting job done [Boston Globe]
Wind out of Red Sox’ sails [Boston Herald]
Josh Beckett far from fourth right [Boston Herald]
Time for Red Sox to re-arm is now [Boston Herald]
Clay Buchholz awaits word [Boston Herald]
Royals take series finale, 4-3 [CSNNE.com]
Beckett’s fourth inning does him in [CSNNE.com]
Drew working on shoulder, happy to see Reddick improve [CSNNE.com]
Nation STATion: The mighty zero [CSNNE.com]
Notes: Pedroia extend hit streak with HR in final AB [CSNNE.com]
Drew: Shoulder injury ‘coming along’ [ESPN Boston]
Rapid reaction: Royals 4, Red Sox 3 [ESPN Boston]
Crawford’s fly would’ve been out of every other park [ESPN Boston]
Sox hope for more answers on Buchholz [ESPN Boston]
Beckett’s blip costly [ESPN Boston]
Red Sox all over the map seeking trades [Extra Bases]
Francona salutes fans at Fenway Park [Extra Bases]
Abraham on Thursday’s loss [Extra Bases]
Closing Time: Carl Crawford, Red Sox come up short [Full Count]
Carl Crawford on ninth-inning drive: ‘I thought I hit it good enough’ [Full Count]
Can Josh Reddick, Darnell McDonald handle job for Red Sox? [Full Count]
After Run of Patsies, Red Sox Face Increasingly Difficult Road Ahead [NESN.com]
Which Red Sox Injury Are You Most Concerned About? [NESN.com]
Ellsbury has hit — and surpassed — peak of Damon [Projo Sox Blog]
Four-run fourth inning just enough for KC [Providence Journal]
Buchholz injury might force Sox to deal at trade deadline [Providence Journal]
Red Sox Journal: Wind spoils Boston’s comeback attempt [Providence Journal]
When it comes to Erik Bedard and Ubaldo Jimenez, there are no easy answers for Red Sox [Rob Bradford – WEEI.com]
For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.
And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the Kansas City Star and the Topeka Capital-Journal websites.
Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.
Photo credits: Getty Images, Getty Images
