The Boston Red Sox were hoping that John Lackey could carry the momentum over from the great starts of Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester in the three-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays in their three-game weekend set with the Baltimore Orioles. He ended up starting off a little slow but got into a nice little groove as the game went.
Unfortunately it wasn’t enough as Miguel Tejada manhandled the Red Sox bullpen with the game-tying and game-winning RBIs for the Orioles in a 5-4 win in 10 innings in front of 30,668 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
The loss for the Red Sox drops them 11-12 and halts a three-game winning streak. It’s just the fifth win of the season for the Orioles (5-18) and their second of the season against the Red Sox. They are 2-2 against the Red Sox and 3-16 against the rest of the league.
After J.D. Drew’s second home run of the night in the 8th gave the Red Sox a 4-3 lead, Daniel Bard couldn’t hold the lead as Tejada took a 98 mph fastball and planted it about 20 rows up in the left field seats.
Ramon Ramirez set the O’s down 1-2-3 in the 9th and was back out for the 10th. He got the lead-off hitter in Cesar Izturis but then allowed a double to Adam Jones. After an intentional walk to Nick Markakis, Terry Francona went to his bullpen for Hideki Okajima. Oki did his job as he struck out Matt Wieters.
Francona went back to the bullpen and summoned Manny Delcarmen to face Tejada. It didn’t work out though how Francona had hoped as Tejada laced a single up the middle to knock in Jones with the winning run.
Lackey went seven innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits and three walks with six strikeouts. He threw 120 pitches. Bard allowed a run on a hit with a strikeout in an inning while Ramirez took the loss as he was charged with a run on a hit and walk with a strikeout.
Drew got his average up to .197 with the two solo home runs. Adrian Beltre added three hits while Dustin Pedroia had two hits, including his team-leading sixth home run.
Daisuke Matsuzaka will make his 2010 debut on Saturday night when he’ll square off with Brad Bergesen who will be called up from Triple-A Norfolk. Game time is set for 7:05 p.m.
