Joe Saunders went 7 2/3 strong innings and Francisco Rodriguez finished it off as the Angels beat the Red Sox 3-1 on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at sold-out Fenway Park. Julian “Yo-Yo” Tavarez was pitched well for 6 innings but took the loss. The loss by the Red Sox and a win by the Skanks this afternoon has cut the lead to 4 games in the AL East.
Yo-Yo didn’t have a good start to the game. Chone Figgins started out with a single and then Yo-Yo walked Orlando Cabrera. Vladimir Guerrero followed that with a single that scored the speedy Figgins from second, making it 1-0 Halos. Garrett Anderson flew out for the first out of the inning and Cabrera moved to third. Yo-Yo then got Gary Matthews, Jr to ground into a fielders choice with Vlad being forced at second base. However Cabrera scored on the play giving the Angels a 2-0 lead. Yo-Yo got out of the inning as newcomer Bobby Kielty took away a home run from Casey Kotchman as he crashed into the right field wall to catch the ball before it landed in the Angels bullpen.
After retiring the Red Sox in order in the 1st, the Red Sox mounted their only challenge of the game in the 2nd, besides the one in the 8th inning. Saunders started out the inning by issuing a walk to Manny Ramirez. Saunders then got Mike Lowell to ground into a fielder’s choice with Manny forced out at second. Kielty, a Sox fan growing up, got his first hit for his new team moving Lowell to second. Saunders got out of the inning though as he got Coco Crisp and Julio “E-6” Lugo to fly out.
The third inning saw the benches clear. After a Figgins strikeout, Yo-Yo threw a pitch that tailed inside on Cabrera and hit him. Cabrera wasn’t happy and voiced his displeasure towards Yo-Yo and started out towards the mound. The other newcomer in the lineup, Kevin Cash, stepped out in front of Cabrera, as Cabrera and Yo-Yo were still exchanging words. Both benches emptied but no punches or shoves were thrown, just a little verbal sparing. The umpires then issued warnings to both benches even though Yo-Yo wasn’t trying to hit him. After things calmed down, Yo-Yo walked Guerrero. Yo-Yo worked himself out of the mini-jam as he got Anderson to ground into a fielder’s choice and Matthews, Jr to ground out.
Saunders was still dealing as he allowed only 2 more hits in the next 3 innings. His counterpart Tavarez was pitching well too. After the walk to Guerrero in the 3rd inning, Yo-Yo settled down and retired the last 11 batters he faced. Yo-Yo went 6 innings, giving up just 2 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks and he struck out 2 Halos.
Kyle Synder took over for Yo-Yo in the 7th and almost got out of the inning unscathed. Kotchman led off the inning with a double and went to third on a Macier Izturis single. With Ryan Budde at the plate, Izturis tried to steal second base but was gunned down by Cash. On the next pitch, Synder got Budde to strikeout and just like that there was 2 outs. However with Robb Quinlan at the plate, Synder uncorked a wild pitch and Kotchman scored to make it 3-0 Angels. Quinlan ended up grounding out to end the inning.
The local nine would finally get on the Green Monster scoreboard in the 8th inning. Saunders started out the inning by retiring Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis on line drive outs. Big Papi chased Saunders from the game with a single off the end of his bat. Scot Shields came in and his wildness continued as he issued a walk to Manny. Lowell followed the walk with a single that scored Big Papi and chased Shields from the game. After J.D. Drew was announced as the pinch-hitter for Kielty, the Angels summoned Justin Speier from their bullpen. Speier threw just 6 pitches as Drew looked like the Statue of Liberty watching all 6 pitches, the final one for the strikeout.
The boos rang out from the Fenway faithful as Eric Gagné came out to pitch the 9th inning. The boos continued as Gagné gave up a single to Anderson to start the inning. The boos would turn to cheers as he would get Matthews to strikeout. Once again the boos returned as Kotchman reached on a single. The cycle would reversed again as Gagné finished off the inning with strikeouts of Izturis and Budde.
Francisco Rodriguez came out in the 9th for the Angels and atoned for his bad outing on Friday. He sent down the Sox in order in the 9th, getting two of the three outs via the strikeout.
The Red Sox now head out on a 11-day 10-game road trip that will take them to Tampa, Chicago and the Bronx. Noted Devil Rays killer Tim Wakefield will get the ball and go for his 19th win against them. He will have a different catcher as Cash will catch him with Doug Mirabelli on the 15-day DL.
