Before the game, 2 pieces of news were made. The Sox officially traded Pedro Ciriaco to the San Diego Padres for a player to be named later. This marks the end of the road for Pedro who was a nice surprise last year but failed to produce this year when the AL East is up for grabs.
The second piece of news was the Sox demoted Alex Wilson again. Once again Clay Buchholz may not make his next start on Tuesday and with Alfredo "The Vulture" Aceves not available to bring back yet, the Sox called up flamethrower Rubby De La Rosa, one of the young guns of the LA Dodgers mega-deal last season to possibly take Clay's place. He's got more major league experience than Alan Webster and is a year older. He was being brought along slowly in Triple A as this is his first full season after recovering from Tommy John surgery. Sox brass feel its time to see what he can do.
As for the game, the offensive incompetence began in the top of the first. Ironically it was their best chance of the night to score anything. Shane Victorino hit a one out single and David Ortiz drew a 2 out walk. Unfortunately Mike Carp flied out. No one knew it at the time but the Sox would only muster 2 more hits the rest of the game. The hard luck loser, Ryan Dempster, was hardly a loser in this game. Ryan worked around a one out double to Manny Machado to retire the side.
Daniel Nava worked a lead off walk in the top of the second but Jose Iglesias, Will Middlebrooks and David Ross all failed to advance him. The O's got on the board in the bottom of the inning when Chris Davis socked his 22nd home run of the season to give the Dirty Birds a 1-0 lead. Dempster got the next 3 batters but the damage was done.
Could the Sox respond in the top of the third inning? NO! Victorino worked a one out walk but Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz failed to advance him any further. Dempster ran into more trouble in the bottom of the third. Nate McLouth worked a one out walk and Machado singled. Nick Markakis flied out but moved McLouth to third, where he scored on the single by Adam Jones. Now the Dirty Birds led 2-0 and it may as well been 20-0. Dempster got Davis to end the inning.
The Sox tried to make a come back in the top of the 4th inning. Mike Carp worked a lead off walk and advanced to second on the groundout by Nava. Jose Iglesias caught the Birds defense napping with a bunt single that advanced Carp to third. Unfortunately, Middlebrooks fly ball to right wasn't deep enough to score Carp and David Ross struck out to end the threat.
Dempster did the best he could in the bottom of the 4th, working around a walk and a wild pitch to retire the side. Ellsbury, Victorino and Pedroia failed to reach base in the top of the 5th while Dempster worked around a McLouth walk and steal to retire the side in the bottom of the inning. Ortiz, Carp and Nava failed to reach in the top of the 6th and Dempster pitched a clean bottom of the 6th.
The Sox got their last hit of the game when Jose Iglesias doubled to lead off the top of the 7th to chase Tillman from the game. Darren O'Day came on to retire Middlebrooks, Ross and Ellsbury to escape the jam, straning Jose at second base. Dempster responded by another clean inning, normally 7 innings of 2 run ball would be enough to win....not tonight.
Victorino, Pedroia and Ortiz failed to reach in the top of the 8th and Dempster returned for the bottom of the inning, looking to give the bullpen a break. Machado doubled to lead the inning off and advanced to third on the ground out by Markakis. The defense picked up Dempster when a grounder by Jones failed to score Machado. Davis was intentionally walked but a walk to Wieters on Ryan's 122nd pitch ended his night. Koji Uehara relieved him and struck out JJ Hardy on 3 pitches. Dempster was outstanding but the offense failed to pick him up. O's closer Jim Johnson took the mound for the top of the 9th and struck out Carp to begin it. Nava was hit by a pitch, putting the tying run at the plate in the form of Iglesias....who banged into a double play to end the game. The O's had won 2-0.
THE GOOD:
One of the rare times the losing pitcher ends up on the good list but Ryan Dempster belongs here. He gave the bullpen a huge lift by nearly going the distance, tossing 7 2/3 innings of 2 run ball which was the opposite of Jon Lester's performance last week. Koji Uehara struck out the one batter he faced on 4 pitches. Shane Victorino was 1 for 3 with a walk.
THE BAD:
Jackass of the night is a tough one. With just 3 hits in the game and no runs scored, it could be anybody but I'll go with David Ross here.
Ross was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts including a huge one with 2 men on in the top of the 4th inning. He's joined by Jacoby Ellsbury who was 0 for 4 with a strikeout. Dustin Pedroia was 0 for 4 and Will Middlebrooks was 0 for 3.
THE UGLY:
David Ortiz and Mike Carp both were 0 for 3 but with a walk. Daniel Nava was 0 for 2 but walked and was hit by a pitch in the 9th. Jose Iglesias got 2 of the 3 hits in the game for the Sox but hit into the game ending double play while representing the tying run.
Final Thoughts:
Not good. The Sox finally get a quality start from their starter but its wasted as the bats fell asleep. The O's are sending a statement that they are for real by taking the first two games of the series. The loss drops the Sox to 41-28, just 1 1/2 games in front of the O's. If the Sox don't wake up in a hurry, they could find themselves a half game behind the O's for first place by Monday. John Lackey looks to follow Dempster's start with one of his own and the Sox look to wake up the bats in game 3 of this 4 game series.
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