On
a night when Tom Petty rocked the Comcast Center, Jed Lowrie rocked
the Toronto Blue Jays and Red Sox Nation for a thrilling 5-4 win in
11 innings.
Red
Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka (8-4, 4.19 ERA) pitched well but
couldn't get the timely outs when needed while Toronto starter Ricky
Romero was more or less the same. After getting pounded the night
before, it was the Sox who dished out the punishment in this one.
The
Sox opened the scoring in the bottom of the third when Darnell
McDonald walked, Marco Scutaro doubled and JD Drew was hit by a
pitch. Victor Martinez then singled in McDonald and Scutaro to give
the Sox a brief 2-0 lead. The Blue Jays answered in the top of the
4th when Dice K walked Aaron Hill and Lyle Overbay back to back. John
McDonald then hit a double which scored Hill easily but the key play
of the game came when rookie shortstop Yamaico Navarro gunned down
Overbay at the plate on a relay throw from Darnell McDonald, keeping
the score 2-1 Boston.
Dice
K continued to shut down the Jays with timely pitching, keeping the
score 2-1 through 5 innings pitched. The Sox struck again against
Romero in the bottom of the frame. After McDonald whiffed, Scutaro
and Drew hit back to back singles bringing up V-Mart. Martinez then
singled home Scutaro but Ortiz struck out swinging. With 2 men out,
Adrian Beltre hit a little poke job over second base which scored
Drew to make the score 4-1.
Then,
the dreaded Dice K Disease struck again. After pitching effectively
for 5 innings, Matsuzaka had his usual bad inning. Jose Bautista
singled and Vernon Wells doubled to open the frame. John Buck brought
home Bautista with a sac fly but Dice K got Aaron Hill to pop up.
Last night's monster Lyle Overbay came on and once again did damage,
launching a 2 run bomb to tie the game 4-4.
Then
the pitchers took over as Romero completed the bottom of the 7th
without a problem as Dice K recovered to pitch a scoreless 7th and
8th inning, keeping Boston in the game. Jason Frasor, Scott Downs and
Shawn Camp were able to combine to pitch a scoreless 8th, but Frasor
and Downs were now out of the game going into the 9th inning with
Boston's bullpen intact.
In
the 9th, Ryan Kalish was in the game at center field, Bill Hall moved
to second base, Jed Lowrie was at first with McDonald moving from
center to left. Red hot Daniel Bard pitched a 1-2-3 9th as Jesse
Carlson replaced Camp. Carlson was able to get through the 9th
without giving up a run, but going into extra innings the Blue Jays
were now down 3 relievers while Bard remained in the game.
The
Jays then looked to have stolen the game when Travis Snider hit a
ball to Bill Hall who then threw the ball away, allowing Snider to
advance to second. The Sox then got some big luck when Fred Lewis hit
the next ball to shortstop Marco Scutaro, who flipped to Beltre at
third to nail Snider with the first out. 1 pitch later Yuneleski
Escobar banged into a double play to end the threat. In the bottom of
the frame, Toronto manager Cito Gaston brought in his 5th reliever of
the game in the form of Casey Janssen to replace Carlson. He managed
to get the side in order...but at this point the longer the game went
on, the more it favored Boston.
Jonathan
Papelbon (5-5, 3.08 ERA) came on in the top of the 11th and got the
side in order to set up the dramatics. In the bottom of the 11th, Jed
Lowrie led off against Janssen. On a 2-2 count, Lowrie hit a rocket
to right-center which landed in the bullpen for the game ending
walkoff home run. It was a feel good story considering one month
earlier Lowrie wasn't even mentioned as apart of the teams plan and
here he is keeping hope alive for a fading ballclub. Papelbon earned
the win as they kept pace with Tampa Bay and New York in the
standings.
Tomorrow,
ace Clay Buchholz (14-5, 2.36 ERA) takes the mound in the rubber game
of the seriesagainst Shawn Marcum (11-6, 3.69 ERA).
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