Curt Schilling was on the hill tonight for the Red Sox and he gave them six strong innings as the Sox held up their end in the AL East race as they beat the A’s 7-3. The win drops the magic number in the AL East to 3 games as the Yankees lost 7-6 to the Devil Rays on a Dioner Navarro walk-off home run. The lead is now 3 games as well.
The win wasn’t the only thing the Sox won tonight as Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis both returned to the playing field tonight. Manny started the game in left field and was batting second. He went 1 for 2 with a walk and a run scored. Youk pinch-hit for Hinske in the 5th and stayed at first base. He was 0 for 2.
After Schilling got Shannon Stewart to ground out to start the game, he left a fastball out over the plate that Daric Barton planted in the seats in right for a solo home run. Nick Swisher followed that up with a ground out. Schilling ended the 1st with strikeout of Jack Cust.
Chad Gaudin made the start tonight for the A’s and struggled at times with his command. The Sox got to him for a run in their half of the 1st. Dustin Pedroia led off with a fly out. Manny, after a nice ovation, laced a single the opposite way. David Ortiz worked a walk. Mike Lowell brought in Manny with a double off the Green Monstah to tie the game at one. Gaudin then got J.D. Drew to strikeout but walked Jason Varitek to load up the bases for Jacoby Ellsbury. Jacoby was unable to bring in anyone as he grounded out to Barton at first.
Schilling was cruising along. He was hitting all his spots, getting some calls. He allowed a single to Dan Johnson in the 2nd, a single to Barton in the 3rd, a Cust single in the 4th and Kurt Suzuki in the 5th. After the Cust single, he struck out the next three batters he faced. They all went down looking.
Gaudin had pitched well to that point as well. He only gave up a double to Drew in the 3rd and a walk to Hinske in the 4th. In the 5th inning, he suddenly could not find the strike zone.
He started out walking Manny. Brandon Moss would come into pinch-run for him. Gaudin then walked Big Papi and Lowell to load up th bases for Drew. Drew never took the bat off his shoulders as Gaudin couldn’t find the strike zone and walked in a run. The walk by Drew ended the night for Gaudin (11-13) as A’s skipper Bob Geren went to the bullpen for former Red Sox pitcher Lenny DiNardo. He came in and got Varitek to strikeout for the first out of the inning. Ellsbury brought in the second run of the inning with a sacrifice fly that scored Big Papi. The sac fly by Ellsbury gave the Sox a 3-1 lead. Youk came in and pinch-hit for Hinske but popped out to second to end the inning.
The 6th would be the last inning for Schilling (9-8). He gave up a 1-out double to Swisher but then got Cust to ground out. Schilling ended his night by getting Mark Ellis to pop out. In the six innings, Schilling scattered six hits and one run. He didn’t walk anyone and he struck out six.
The Sox added another run in the 7th off the bat of Ellsbury. After DiNardo had gotten the first two outs in the way of Big Papi and Lowell, he allowed a single to Drew. With Varitek at the plate, Drew went to second on a passed ball by Suzuki. Vartiek was then intentionally walked. Ellsbury made them pay for the walk as he singled to score Drew for a 4-1 Sox lead. Geren then went to bullpen for Lugo’s little brother, Ruddy. Ruddy came in and got Youk to line out for the third out of the inning.
Manny Delcarmen worked the 7th for the Sox. Eric Gagné started the 8th for the Sox. I know I know, you’re thinking what is Terry Francona thinking. Stewart led off with a single but then Gagné got Barton and Swisher out. He then walked Cust and Francona went to the bullpen for Jonathan Papelbon. All Papelbon needed was one pitch as he got Ellis to pop out.
The Sox struck for three more runs in the 8th. In a battle of Lugo’s for the first time in their professional careers, Julio was the winner as his younger brother walked him. Pedroia moved him to third as he hit a double. Bobby Kielty, who had pinch-hit for Moss in the 7th, brought in Lugo with a sac fly. Geren went to his bullpen again this time bringing in Dan Meyer. That move didn’t work out too well as Big Papi crushed a two-run homer to right to give the Sox a 7-1 lead. After getting Lowell out, Meyer allowed a single to Drew and a walk to Varitek. He got out of the inning as Ellsbury flew out to center.
With the Sox having a 7-1 lead, Francona decided to bring out the unscored upon Bryan Corey from the bullpen. Corey walked Dan Johnson, then allowed a single to Marcos Scutaro. Jack Hannahan brought in Johnson with a double with Scutaro going to third. Suzuki brought in Scutaro with a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 7-3. Corey ended the game as Stewart lined into a double play, which Hannahan getting picked off second.
Big win for the boys tonight. A great outing by Schilling. The Sox need to keep this momentum going as Jon Lester takes the ball tomorrow. Gametime is at 5:05 PM.
Notes and Musings:
The last time Schilling pitched against the A’s, he had a no-hitter for 8 2/3 innings. He finished the game with a 1-hit shutout.
As Steve reported, Kevin Youkilis will return to the Sox lineup tomorrow night. Well, he returned tonight as he pinch-hit for Eric Hinske in the 5th inning tonight.
Manny Ramirez will get 2-3 at-bats then be taken out of the game. It was originally going to be Jacoby Ellsbury replacing him in left but Coco Crisp was a late scratch to the lineup so it will be Bobby Kielty or Brandon Moss replacing him. It ended up being Moss.
Hideki Okajima will return to the Sox bullpen on Thursday. He’s been out with a tired arm.
Julio Lugo’s younger brother Ruddy is a reliever in the A’s bullpen.
The Red Sox are on this week’s cover of Sports Illustrated.
Jerry Remy will be working the postgame show on NESN for the Sox games during the postseason. NESN will be live 1 hour before gametime doing the pregame show and immediately after for the postgame show.
Tim Russert will host the Red Sox Presidential Debate on Thursday. It will air on Friday following the Red Sox postgame show on NESN.
After spotting a Hartford Whalers t-shirt in the crowd, quote of night from RemDawg followed: Do the Whalers still play in Hartford? Ummm RemDawg, they left Hartford after 1997 season.
