On a wild and windy day at the Fens, it was a rookie who helped get the Jays past the Red Sox 2-1. That rookie was Jesse Litsch who threw 6 2/3 innings of 1 run ball. Josh Beckett didn’t throw that bad at all either. It was one small bad inning when the Blue Jays were able to tack on 2 runs to the scoreboard. The Sox managed 11 hits in the game but were unable to capitalize off the Jays’ rookie and bullpen. The wind today played havoc with a lot of balls to the outfield as it was gusting up to 25 mph at times while blowing steady at 15-20 mph.
The local nine tried to get a run on the board in the 1st inning with two outs but were unable to do so. After Coco Crisp and Alex Cora grounded out to Royce Clayton at shortstop, David Ortiz laced a single to center off of Litsch. Manny Ramirez followed with a single, moving Big Papi over to third base. Litsch got Kevin Youkilis to fly out ending the threat.
After working a 1-2-3 1st inning in which Manny made an acrobatic catch, Beckett got himself into some trouble in the 2nd after getting the first two outs of the inning. Matt Stairs began the inning with a strikeout and Troy Glaus flied out to rightfield. Lyle Overbay, who was 4 for 17 in his career against Beckett then hit a double off the garage door in center. Aaron Hill brought in Overbay with a double of his own, making it 1-0 Blue Jays. Clayton, making his first appearance of the series, brought in Hill with a single giving the Jays a 2-1 lead. Beckett rebounded to get Jason Phillips on a strikeout but not before the damage was done.
In the 3rd inning, the Sox had another chance to score but were unable to plate anyone. Julio Lugo led off with a single and went to second on a Crisp single. Cora then tried to advance the runners with a bunt but a quick and nimble Litsch got off the mound quickly and was able to throw out Lugo at third base. Litsch then got Big Papi to ground into a 1-6-3 inning-ending double play.
Fast forwarding to the 6th inning, the Bosox were finally able to get a run on the board. Cora led off the inning with a double and came around to score on a Big Papi double, cutting the Blue Jays lead to 2-1. Litsch then got Manny to pop out to second but followed that with a walk to Youk. Lowell then fouled out to Phillips behind the plate, who had to make an acrobatic catch of his own as the wind had some fun with the ball. Eric Hinske then hit a single but Alex Rios unleashed a perfect throw to the plate to nail Big Papi for the third out of the inning.
Going back to the 6th inning, Beckett had retired six batters in a row before Glaus hit a single to left with two outs in the 8th inning. Beckett then walked Overbay but on his 118th pitch of the afternoon, he got Hill to fly out to rightfield.
Beckett went 8 innings, scattering 7 hits and giving up 2 runs. He walked 2 and struck out 8 Blue Jays on the day.
In the final 3 innings, the Sox could manage only 2 hits off the Toronto bullpen. Coco singled in the 7th and Manny in the 8th but they weren’t able to anything else. Accardo worked a perfect nineth for his second save of the series.
Kason Gabbard looks to continue his dominance at Fenway tomorrow night as the Kansas City Royals come to town for a 3-game set. Gametime is 7:05 PM.
Notes and Musings:
Curt Schilling will work two innings tomorrow. One will be with batters off the mound and the other will take place in the bullpen.
For those of you who don’t know, Litsch was a batboy for the Devil Rays back in 2001.
Manny Delcarmen has 10 strikeouts in his last 5 appearances.
Doug Mirabelli made a non-Wakefield start today because Varitek had a rough night behind the plate. By rough I mean he took a few foul balls off his body.
The Red Sox are 13-2 in day games at the Fens and 20-8 overall on the season.
