Bring on the New York Yankees! The Boston Red Sox concluded their early season romp over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Baltimore Orioles by winning 6 of 9 games against the two teams including today against the Orioles. Tomo Ohka (1-0, 4.50 ERA) tossed 6 solid innings and held the O's to just two runs. The Boston bats came alive with six runs in the bottom of the fourth and two more in the bottom of the fifth to knock out O's starter Jose Mercedes. Troy O'Leary was a one man wrecking crew by outscoring the O's all by himself with 4 rbis. All 9 starters either had a hit or a walk in a contributing effort and Rolando Arrojo earned his first save of the season as the Sox had won it 8-2.
The O's wasted no time getting to Ohka in the top of the first inning as Brady Anderson flied out to left to start. Mike Bordick singled to left and moved to second on the Chris Richard grounder to first. David Segui walked and Jay Gibbons doubled home Bordick to give the O's the lead. Mike Kinkade flied out to center to end the inning with Baltimore ahead 1-0.
Mercedes got the ball in the bottom of the first and Trot Nixon flied out to left to start. Jose Offerman dropped down a bunt but it was snuffed out by Mercedes and Carl Everett struck out swinging to end the inning.
The O's struck again in the top of the second as Brook Fordyce doubled to left to begin. Melvin Mora took strike three but Jerry Hairston Jr doubled home Fordyce to increase the lead. Hairston moved to third on the Anderson grounder but Bordick walked. Haiston was thrown out in a rundown to end the inning with the O's up 2-0.
Yerrr out!
Ohka settled down in the top of the third inning as Richard struck out swinging to start. Segui and Gibbons also struck out swinging to end the inning. Mercedes turned up the heat himself in the bottom of the third as Shea Hillenbrand struck out swinging to start. Brian Daubach and Craig Grebeck also struck out swinging to end the inning.
Ohka cruised in the top of the fourth inning as Kinkade popped up to short to start. Fordyce grounded out to short and Mora flied out to center to end the inning. The Sox exploded in the bottom of the fourth as Nixon and Offerman stroked back to back base hits to start. Everett lashed a base hit to left to load the bases with nobody out but Ramirez struck out swinging. O'Leary stepped up with a base hit to center to score Nixon and Offerman to tie the game. Everett moved to third on the fly ball to right by Varitek and scored on the Hillenbrand base hit to center to give the Sox the lead. Daubach doubled home O'Leary and Grebeck got his first hit of the season, a base hit to center, to score Hillenbrand and Daubach. Nixon popped up to short to end the inning but the Sox led 6-2.
Hairston Jr lined out to left to start the top of the fifth inning and Anderson popped up to second. Bordick got a base hit to center but Richard flied out to center to end the inning. The Sox finally chased Mercedes in the bottom of the fifth although Offerman popped up to short to start. Everett singled to right and Ramirez doubled to left before O'Leary cleared the bases with a triple, sending Mercedes to the showers. Calvin Maduro came in and struck out Hillenbrand swinging and got Daubach to pop up to third to end the inning with the Sox ahead 8-2.
Ohka returned for one last inning in the top of the sixth and walked Segui to start. Gibbons struck out swinging, Kinkade forced Segui at second and Fordyce grounded into a force to end the inning. Ohka struggled at first but then pitched shutdown ball the last four innings to go an even 6 while allowing just 2 runs.
Grebeck flied out to left to start the bottom of the sixth and Nixon lined out to center. Offerman walked but Everett struck out swinging to end the inning.
Rolando Arrojo came in to pitch the top of the seventh and Mora struck out swinging to start. Hairston walked and moved to second on a grounder by Anderson, but was out at third on a grounder by Bordick to end the inning. Ramirez struck out swinging to start the bottom of the seventh but O'Leary blooped a single to right. Varitek banged into a double play to end the inning.
Richard grounded out to second to start the top of the eighth but Segui singled to left. Gibbons took strike three but Kinkade singled to right to put runners at the corners. Fordyce struck out swinging to end the inning. Mike Trombley came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and Hillenbrand took strike three to start. Daubach also took strike three and Grebeck grounded out to second to end the inning.
Arrojo came back to close out the top of the ninth and Mora popped up to second to start. Hairston flied out to right but Anderson and Bordick stroked back to back base hits. Richard struck out swinging to end the game. The Sox had won the game 8-2.
Sox win
HerO'Leary
Hero of the Night is Troy O'Leary. He was 3 for 4 with 4 runs batted in to outscore the O's by himself.
The Good:
Jose Offerman was 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored.
Carl Everett was 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored.
Tomo Ohka got the win by throwing 6 innings of 2 run ball. He allowed 5 hits and 3 walks while striking out 5.
Rolando Arrojo got the save with 3 scoreless innings.
The Bad:
None
The Ugly:
Trot Nixon was just 1 for 4 but scored a run.
Manny Ramirez was just 1 for 4 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts but scored a run.
Jason Varitek was 0 for 3 but walked.
Shea Hillenbrand was just 1 for 4 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts but drove in a run and scored a run.
Brian Daubach was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts but drove in a run and scored a run.
Craig Grebeck was just 1 for 4 but the one hit drove in 2 runs.
Final Thoughts:
The Sox have shown they can beat up the Orioles and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays but the 3-peat World Series champion New York Yankees are coming. The Sox look to have improved their team from last year, especially with the addition of Manny Ramirez and the signing of a legit number 2 starter in Hideo Nomo. Today Ohka tried his best to pitch like Nomo and got his first win of the season. The offense was a balanced attack and it was nice to see not only O'Leary take charge but Grebeck finally get a hit. Looking ahead to the Yankees, the Sox have a chance to establish some early dominance on them. Last year the Sox were in first place until June but the Yankees pretty much sleptwalked through the regular season. This time the Sox added some pieces that may be enough to compete with them. Tomorrow night is the big showdown and Orlando Hernandez is first out of the gate for New York against Paxton Crawford of the Red Sox. The game begins at 6:05 PM at Fenway Park.
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