It was a good day for Boston sports as the Boston Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 3 of their NHL playoff first round series and the Boston Red Sox defeated the Minnesota Twins. Once again this year's Red Sox team does the complete opposite of what last year's would have done. One week after Jack Morris of the Toronto Blue Jays hysterically bleated that Clay Buchholz cheated in his dominating start against Toronto, Clay did himself no favors by stinking up the joint by allowing 4 earned runs in 6 innings. He did manage to strike out 9 but when you're charged with cheating, the LAST thing you need is a bad start. The Twins are not the Rangers either, their offense isn't scaring anyone that has pennant hopes this year. Giving up 4 runs in just six innings to the Twinkies and making your bullpen toss 5 innings it can ill-afford to do is just a recipe for impending disaster. Still, the Sox survived Clay and a melt-down by Joel Hanrahan to defeat the Minnesota Twins 6-5 in extra innings at Fenway Park.
Buchholz took the mound in the top of the first inning and got lit up quickly. Brian Dozier flied out but Joe Mauer doubled. Josh Willingham doubled Joe home and Justin Morneau singled Josh home to give the Twins a quick 2-0 lead. Chris "Chicken" Parmalee and Trevor Plouffe walked to load the bases but Clay recovered to strike out Oswald Arcia. Aaron Hicks struck out to end the inning but Clay was down 2-0. The Sox failed to bounce back in the bottom of the first against Minnesota starter Vance Worley. Jacoby Ellsbury grounded out but Shane Victorino singled. Dustin Pedroia made the fans groan by hitting into a double play to end the inning.
Buchholz recovered in the top of the second inning to quickly strike out both Pedro Florimon and Dozier. Mauer grounded out to end the inning. The Sox went quietly in the bottom of the second inning. David Ortiz flied out, Mike Napoli grounded out and Daniel Nava also grounded out to end the inning.
Clay matched Worley in the top of the third inning. Willingham flied out before Buchholz struck out both Morneau and Parmalee to end the inning. The Sox got their first hit when Jarrod Saltalamacchia doubled to lead off the bottom of the third inning. Will Middlebrooks moved him to third with a ground out but Stephen "PU" Drew struck out. Ellsbury grounded out to end the inning.
Buchholz got tagged in the top of the fourth inning as well. Plouffe struck out but Arcia doubled. Hicks doubled home Arcia but Florimon struck out. Dozier grounded out to end the inning but the Twins now led 3-0. The Sox finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth, Victorino stepped up to launch his first home run of the year to cut the lead. Pedroia singled but Ortiz banged into a double play. Napoli grounded out but the Sox had cut the deficit 3-1.
Buchholz couldn't keep the Twins at bay in the top of the fifth inning. Mauer hit a ground rule double and moved to third on the single by Willingham. Morneau brought home Mauer with a sac fly and Parmalee grounded out. Napoli made a boo-boo by dropping a routine pop up in foul territory but Plouffe flied out anyway to end the inning with the Twins ahead 4-1. The Sox refused to go quietly in the bottom of the fifth inning. Nava doubled but both Middlebrooks and Saltalamacchia struck out. PU Drew stepped up with an rbi single to cut the lead in half. Ellsbury doubled but Drew was thrown out at home to end the inning.
Clay came back for one more inning in the top of the sixth. Arcia struck out, Hicks grounded out and Florimon grounded out to end the inning. Normally 6 innings of 4 run ball isn't the worst, but when you're accused of cheating and stink your next start, it raises a lot of red flags. The Sox rallied again in the bottom of the sixth inning. Victorino and Pedroia stroked back to back singles to chase Worley. Brian Duensing came in for relief and got Ortiz to hit into his second double play of the night. Napoli showed some balls with an rbi single to cut the lead. Napoli took second on a wild pitch and Nava walked. With a chance to tie the game...Saltalamacchia struck out to end the inning. Still, the Sox had closed the gap 4-3.
Rookie Alex Wilson came on for the top of the 7th and put himself in a hole when Brian Dozier singled and he walked Joe Mauer. Wilson did manage to strike out Josh Willingham but manager John Farrell had seen enough. In came lefty Andrew Miller who got out of the jam by striking out Morneau and Chris Parmelee to end the inning.
With the game in reach, the Sox rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning against Twins reliever Casey Fien (guess people forgot how to spell Fine). Middlebrooks grounded out but Stephen Drew stepped up again by homering to tie the game. Ellsbury and Victorino grounded out to end the inning but the game was tied.
In the top of the 8th, Craig Breslow made his season debut. Plouffe flied out, Arcia struck out and Hicks flied out to end the inning. Welcome back Breslow. The Sox wasted no time taking the lead in the bottom of the eighth against Fien. Pedroia smoked a solo home run into the Monster Seats to give the Sox the lead. Anthony Swarzak came on to finish the bottom of the eighth but Ortiz greeted him with a double. Napoli lined out and for some reason Sox manager John Farrell pinch ran Ortiz with Pedro Ciriaco. I never liked pinch running for Ortiz because you may need him in extra innings. Nava struck out and Ciriaco committed a boo-boo by trying to take third on the walk by Saltalamacchia, getting thrown out to end the inning.
Unfortunately more bawfulness out of the Red Sox occured when closer Joel Hanrahan entered the game to finish it up in the 9th. With Andrew Bailey on the DL with the same damn thing John Lackey had last month, the Sox NEEDED Hanrahan to stay healthy. Hanrahan managed to get pinch hitter Ryan Doumit to fly out but then served up a meatball to Dozier who hit it over the monster to tie the game. Joel managed to come back to strike out Joe Mauer but after giving up a walk to Willingham, he started clutching his arm. Sure enough, after the trainer made a gold medal worthy mad dash to the mound, Joel left the game. Anyone else notice that the last two times Hanrahan has blown a save he left due to "injury"? Now BOTH closers are injured and not only that, the Sox have virtually no one left in the bullpen besides the over-used Orient Express (Junichi Tazawa and Koju Uehara) and Clayton "Vigo" Mortensen to finish up the game.
Now Vigo Mortensen had to come in and clean up the mess. He got Morneau to ground out to end the inning...yay. The Sox failed to score in the bottom of the 9th with Eduardo Escobar now at short. Middlebrooks did what he usually does and that's strike out although Drew managed to keep the inning alive with a single only for Ellsbury to bang into a double play to end the inning.
Off to extra innings we go and Vigo returned for the top of the 10th. Parmalee grounded out but Plouffe and Arcia worked back to back walks. Normally this would be the beginning of the end but this was Vigo's night, getting pinch hitter Wilkin Ramirez to pop up. Doumit grounded out to end the inning. The Sox failed to score in the bottom of the 10th as Victorino lined out and Pedroia struck out. Mike Carp pinch hit for Ciriaco and struck out to end the inning.
Vigo was out there again for the 11th. Farrell was going to win or lose with Vigo to save the Express for another night. Dozier struck out and Mauer grounded out but Escobar legged out an infield single. Mortensen got Morneau to fly out to end the inning. His final line was 2 1/3 innings with a hit and 2 walks allowed with a strike out. That set the stage for the bottom of the 11th. Jared Burton took the mound for the Twinkies. Napoli grounded out and Nava flied out....game over right? WRONG! Saltalamacchia took advantage of shoddy defense from Burton to reach on a single. Then Middlebrooks ripped a Herculean single to center. Up came the unlikely star of the night, Stephen "No-longer PU" Drew, who ripped a game winning double to give the Sox a 6-5 victory to remain 1 1/2 games in first place.
The two Heroes of the Night were the unlikely combo of Stephen Drew and Clayton Mortensen. Stephen went 4 for 5 with 3 rbi's and a home run that were all crucial. Mortensen pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings with the game on the line and no relief in sight to get his first win of the year.
THE GOOD:
Shane Victorino was 3 for 5 with an rbi and 2 runs scored
Dustin Pedroia was 3 for 5 with an rbi and a run scored.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia was 2 for 4 with a walk and a run scored.
Andrew Miller struck out the only two men he faced.
Craig Breslow made his season debut with a scoreless eighth inning.
THE BAD:
Pedro Ciriaco pinch ran for David Ortiz and got thrown out at third to end the inning.
Mike Carp pinch hit for Ciriaco and struck out.
Joel Hanrahan pooped his pants in the ninth inning with his second blown save of the year before leaving with injury.
THE UGLY:
Jacoby Ellsbury managed to go just 1 for 5 in the game.
David Ortiz was just 1 for 4 including grounding into two double plays.
Mike Napoli was just 1 for 5 with an error but the lone hit was a big one that brought in a run.
Daniel Nava was just 1 for 4 but walked and scored.
Will Middlebrooks was just 1 for 5 but the one hit was a crucial one in the 11th.
Clay Buchholz was mortal, giving up 4 runs in 6 innings.
Alex Wilson gave up a hit and a walk but got a key out in the top of the 7th.
Final Thoughts:
It was a gritty, gutty win that kept the Sox in first and also showed the team had serious balls. Losing Hanrahan is a huge blow because now the Sox have to survive the trio of Dempster, Doubront and Lackey....none of which have proven they can last 7 innings (especially Doubront) consistently. It was learned that Tazawa would be the interim closer until a replacement can be found. If Hanrahan has to go back on the DL, they can either bring up Daniel Bard for one last chance or....*shudders*...Alfredo "The Vulture" Aceves who does have closing experience unfortunately. Now the best case scenario would be for the Red Sox offense to step up in the next 3 games to give enough cushion where they don't have to use their primary relievers such as Uehara, Breslow (he was set up last year, remember?) and Tazawa. The Sox return to action tomorrow night at 7 as Ryan Dempster takes on Scott Diamond.
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