Of the eight losses the Boston Red Sox have suffered this season, tonight's game against the Kansas City Royals is unquestionably the worst. Six of the losses were one run games and the seventh was the gem pitched by Andy Pettitte. This game eclipsed them all with bad pitching, bad offense and horrendously bad defense. The Sox committed not one, not two, not three, not four but FIVE errors in the field against the Royals. Tomo Ohka (2-1, 2.28 ERA) served up 5 runs in 5 innings but only one of them were earned. The Sox bats were held to just 2 runs by Dan Reichert and the Royals bullpen and Tim Wakefield coughed up another 3 runs in relief. The five errors and eight runs allowed were more than enough for the Royals to beat the Sox 8-3 at Fenway Park.
The incompetence began in the top of the first inning for Ohka and the Red Sox. Carlos Beltran hit a routine grounder to Offerman who threw his glove at the ball and did a disco shimmy for an error to start. Beltran moved to second on a grounder to third by Sanchez and Mark Quinn doubled Carlos home to give the Royals the lead. Jermaine Dye took strike three but Mike Sweeney walked. Dee Brown struck out swinging to end the inning with the Royals up 1-0.
Reichert took the mound in the bottom of the first and Trot Nixon hit a routine grounder to Rey Sanchez who threw the ball away for an error. Jose Offerman struck out swinging but Carl Everett singled Nixon to third and swiped second. Manny Ramirez struck out swinging and and Troy O'Leary flied out to left to end the inning.
Joe Randa flied out to left to begin the top of the second and Hector Ortiz grounded out to second. Luis Ordaz singled to right but Beltran popped up to third to end the inning. The Sox struck back in the bottom of the second as Jason Varitek walked to start. Shea Hillenbrand tripled into the centerfield triangle to tie the game and scored on the Brian Daubach grounder to give the Sox the lead. Mike Lansing flied out to right and Sanchez dropped a pop up by Nixon for a "single". Offerman struck out swinging to end the inning.
The comedy of errors continued in the top of the third as Sanchez hit a squibber in front of the plate that Varitek threw into right field for an error. Nixon tried to throw out Sanchez at second but airmailed the throw for another error to move Rey to third. Ohka started kicking the dirt after Quinn scored Sanchez with a sac fly to tie the game. Dye flied out to right and Sweeney grounded out to second to end the inning but the game was tied 2-2.
Everett walked to start the bottom of the third but was forced at second by Ramirez. O'Leary popped up to third but Varitek singled in the hole at short. Hillenbrand popped up to first to end the inning.
Bad defense continued in the top of the fourth as Brown grounded out to second to start. Randa popped up to second but Ortiz doubled to left. Ordaz walked and Beltran hit a grounder to Offerman who threw to first....DROPPED by Daubach for another error to score Ortiz. Sanchez flied out to center to end the inning with the Royals ahead 3-2.
Daubach walked to start the bottom of the fourth but Lansing flied out to right. Nixon took strike three and Offerman grounded out to second to end the inning,
Quinn flied out to right to start the top of the fifth before Dye grounded out to short. Sweeney flied out to left to end the inning. Everett flied out to left to start the bottom of the fifth and Ramirez popped up to third. O'Leary grounded out to second to end the inning.
Ohka was finally chased in the top of the sixth as Brown walked to start. Brown stole second but Randa grounded back to the mound. Ohka turned and fired the ball into the left field screen to score Brown on Boston's fifth error of the day. That was it for Ohka who got no help from his defense and would be charged with 5 runs in just 5 innings. Tim Wakefield came in and Ortiz singled Randa to third. Ordaz hit a sac fly to center to score Randa with another run to close the book on Ohka. Beltran banged into a double play to end the inning but the Royals led 5-2.
Varitek grounded out to first to start the bottom of the sixth but Hillenbrand singled to center. Daubach flied out to center but Lansing singled to center. Nixon flied out to right to end the inning.
The Royals struck again in the top of the seventh inning as Sanchez grounded out to short to start. Quinn singled to center and moved to second on the Dye grounder to third. Sweeney singled to center to score Quinn and increase the lead. Brown grounded out to first to end the inning with the Sox down 6-2.
Jason Grimsley came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh and Offerman grounded out to third to start. Everett popped up to third and Ramirez struck out swinging to end the inning.
Randa took strike three to start the top of the eighth and Ortiz singled to center. Ortiz moved to second on the grounder to the mound by Ordaz and to third on the base hit by Beltran. Sanchez grounded out to short to end the inning. The Sox beat the ball in the dirty in the bottom of the eighth as O'Leary grounded out to first to start. Varitek grounded out to third and Hillenbrand grounded out to second to end the inning.
The Royals struck again in the top of the ninth as Quinn hit a home run to Nottingham, England to start. Dye singled to center but was forced at second by Sweeney. Brown doubled home Sweeney to wrap up the scoring. Rod Beck came in to pitch and Randa flied out to right. Ortiz struck out looking to end the inning with the Royals ahead 8-2.
Mercifully the game ended in the bottom of the ninth as David McCarty came in to play first and Roberto Hernandez came in to pitch. Daubach walked and Scott Hatteberg pinch hit for Lansing....who grounded into a double play. Nixon flied out to left to end the game. The Royals had won it 8-2.
The Good:
Carl Everett was just 1 for 3 with a walk.
Jason Varitek was 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored.
Shea Hillenbrand was 2 for 4 with an rbi and a run scored.
Brian Daubach walked twice in four plate appearances and drove in a run.
Mike Lansing was 1 for 3.
Rod Beck got the final 2 outs of the ninth inning.
The Bad:
Jose Offerman was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts and an error.
Manny Ramirez was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
Troy O'Leary was 0 for 4.
Scott Hatteberg was 0 for 1.
The Ugly:
Trot Nixon was just 1 for 5 with a strikeout and an error.
Tomo Ohka took the loss but only allowed 1 earned run in 5 innings of work before being lifted in the sixth. He allowed only 4 hits and 3 walks but made an error too.
Final Thoughts:
That was one of if not THE worst games of the season for the Red Sox. They committed 5 errors and did almost nothing offensively. Manny Ramirez had his first real bad game and the defense was absolute garbage. It was a game of whatever could go wrong, did go wrong from pitching to hitting to defense. Wakefield was brought into a 4-2 game and by the ninth inning it was 8-2. The Sox did almost nothing on offense and the five errors hurt big time. The Sox have had a decent month to start the season but this game was not it. The less said of this disaster, the better. The Sox look to rebound tomorrow against the Royals in the rubber game of this three game set to end the month. Paxton Crawford goes up against Brian Meadows of the Royals at 1:05 PM at Fenway Park.
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