In front of another packed house at Fenway Park Chase Field, Randy Johnson struck out 9 Red Sox batters in out-dueling his counterpart from Japan as the Diamondbacks were able to pull out a 5-1 victory. The win for the Diamondbacks helped them avoid being swept by the boys from Beantown.
It was a tough trip for the Sox as they went 3-4 on the 7 game trip, including losing 3 in a row to the A’s to start the trip.
The game was close (2-1) until the 8th inning when the normally dependable Red Sox bullpen imploded.
Brendan Donnelly gave up a single to Conor Jackson to lead off the inning. Terry Francona then made the call to the bullpen for Javier Lopez, who came into face a lefty, Stephen Drew. Drew drew a walk from Lopez and Francona once again made a visit to the mound. He decided to bring in Mike Timlin, who was activated from the DL on Saturday.
Timlin, in words that are safe to read, sucked. Carlos Quentin layed down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners. Timlin decided to throw like a pansy and threw the ball over Kevin Youkilis’ head, allowing both Jackson and Drew to score, making it 4-1 D’backs. Quentin got all the way to third on the error by Timlin. Quentin would come around to score on a Chris Young single, providing the final margin of victory.
The game started out as a battle of the strikeouts. Through the first three innings, the Big Unit struck out 6 Red Sox batters while Dice-K struck out 3 D’backs.
The Sox finally got to Johnson for their only run in the 4th inning. Manny drew a lead off walk and came around to score on a Mike Lowell double. Johnson did strike out two more Sox batters bring his strikeout total to 8 in just 4 innings of work.
Arizona managed a run in their half of the 4th even though Dice-K struck out 3 batters in the inning. Orlando Hudson drew a lead-off walk and Chad Tracy, 3 strikeouts on the day, was retired via the strikeout. Before Jackson drew a walk, Hudson stole second base. Drew then hit a single, bringing in Hudson to tie the game at 1. Quentin then grounded a ball to Lowell at third base, which he booted for his 11th error of the season. Lowell’s error loaded up the bases for Chris Synder. Dice-K got out of further trouble by getting Synder and Johnson to strikeout.
In the 6th, the D’backs would score the eventual game winning run. Jackson led off the inning with a walk. After Drew flied out to Manny in left, Quentin smashed a double to deep center, scoring Jackson and giving the D’backs a 2-1 lead.
Dice-K pitched very well for the Sox and kept the Red Sox in the game. Unfortunately for him, his teammates only scraped together 4 hits off of Johnson and 6 total in the game.
Dice-K’s line: 6 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs, 4 walks and 9 strikeouts. Big Unit’s line: 6 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 3 walks and 9 strikeouts.
I guess the biggest question is did the Red Sox make the right decision in letting J.C. Romero go when they activated Timlin? They could have sent down Lopez to see how Timlin would do. I was surprised to see Timlin in a close game but then again, I am not the manager.
The Sox are off on Monday and return home to host the Colorado Rockies for a 3 game set. Tim Wakefield takes the hill for the Sox as they look to reestablish their lead in the AL East. It is now down to 9.5 games, as the Yanks have won their last 6 ballgames.
Steve sent this in to me to add.
During today’s game WRKO’s Joe Castiglione said of Diamondbacks outfielder Eric Brynes is that “he plays the game like his hair is on fire”. I think the understated Glenn Geffner nodded in agreement.
