In a game with a similar outcome to the “Mother’s Day Miracle”, the Baltimore Orioles saw themselves with a big lead over the Boston Red Sox. But as time went on, the Red Sox chipped away at the 7-0 lead spotted to the Orioles by an ineffective Brad Penny and eventually came out 10-8 winners at Fenway Park last night.
While Penny had some good life on his fastball, his location left something to be desired as he walked 5 batters and left some pitches up in the zone that this good hitting Orioles team capitalized on.
“I felt great. I haven’t had that kind of stuff in a while. The walks killed me tonight.”
“I don’t know. That’s uncharacteristic for me. I don’t usually walk a lot of people. I got that one out of the way, I guess.”
“Stuff-wise, I felt great. My breaking ball was good. I didn’t get to throw too many splits, because I was 2-1, 3-1 to everyone. I had a great curveball. My fastball, I felt great with it today.”
He may have felt great but he looked awful last night. Hopefully, Penny can bounce back in his next start against the Minnesota Twins. With Daisuke Matsuzaka out right now, the Red Sox need him to pitch well because the bullpen can’t keep getting taxed.
Speaking of the bullpen, how good do they look right now. Manny Delcarmen and Ramon Ramirez still haven’t given up a run this season (knock on wood). Ramirez in particular has looked outstanding and is showing why the Red Sox traded Coco Crisp to the Kansas City Royals for him.
The bullpen is hot though right now as they have throw 16 straight scoreless innings. The only one who has looked a little out of sorts has been Javier Lopez but I suspect he’ll turn it around sooner rather than later. Otherwise, he may find himself out of a job.
One last thing to pass on about tonight’s game.
With the Boston Bruins taking on the Montreal Canadians in Game 2 of the first round of the NHL Playoffs and the Red Sox playing at the same time, tonight’s Red Sox game will be shown on the NESNPlus channel.
Boston wins a marathon [Patriot Ledger]
Sox hang 10 on Orioles [Boston Globe]
Red Sox take offense [Boston Herald]
Sox hope momentous comeback turns their luck around [Providence Journal]
Sox hoping Masterson can provide relief in a starter’s role [Patriot Ledger]
Lowrie may be out for year [Boston Globe]
Dustin Pedroia gets going [Boston Herald]
Sox erase seven-run deficit, and bullpen does the rest [Providence Journal]
Game was odd, but worked out in end [Boston Globe]
Wait ’til 2010 for Jed Lowrie? [Boston Herald]
50 years later, Pumpsie Green recalls being the first African-American Red Sox [Providence Journal]
Lucky Penny [Extra Bases]
For David Ortiz, slow start IS a laughing matter [Full Count]
Record Red Sox Crowd [Projo Sox Blog]
Public invited to forum Monday on Red Sox spring training sites [Naples Daily News]
For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and Providence Journal websites.
And if you want to check out the enemy papers, head over to the Baltimore Sun and Annapolis Capital websites.
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.
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.
3-6
