Mendoza v. Matsuzaka (Game 18)

Woot for David Ortiz! A grand slam and the return of that giant smile!



It wasn't all that bad of an outing for Daisuke. He continues to throw too many pitches (he couldn't get out of the sixth with 101 pitches) but his control was much better today. He only walked two batters in the five and one third innings he pitched and neither of those came back to hurt him. He struck out four, had six ground ball outs, and six fly ball outs. He allowed five hits and three runs.

He was relieved in the sixth inning by Javier Lopez. Lopez went an inning and two thirds and did pretty well. He didn't allow any hits and only walked one. Aardsma came on for the eighth inning and got two quick outs (a ground out and a strike out) but then gave up a base hit. His confidence or concentration must wane a lot when there are men on base because he proceeded to walk the next two batters to load the bases. He pulled it together passably well though by striking out the last batter. Timlin came on to finish off the game with a fly out and two ground outs.

This game was all offense, though. Mendoza went once through the batting order (getting all but one out) and then they seemed to figure him out. Lowrie, the ninth batter, started off the night with a double down the left field line. The next two batters walked and then Ortiz came up for his two out grand slam. Manny got a base hit and then Youkilis grounded out.

The next inning started off with Mendoza walking Drew, followed by Varitek hitting a double and batting Drew in. Casey then got a base hit and that was the night for Mendoza. He was replaced by Rupe who gave up a sacrifice fly to Lowrie, a triple to Ellsbury, a homerun to Pedroia, and (sort of) hit Ortiz with a pitch before getting Manny and Youkilis to both ground into a fielder's choice for the force out at second.

After that, the bats went quiet until the eighth inning. Casey started off the inning with a double and then Lowrie struck out (which he was absolutely stunned about and it was very endearing.) Ellsbury walked and Pedroia struck out. Ortiz got a base hit and Casey and Ellsbury came around to score. Joe Thurston grounded out to first to end the inning.

Both Lowrie and Ortiz did really well tonight. In his first at bat Ortiz grounded out to first, in his second he hit the homerun, in his third he convinced the umpire that he was hit by the pitch, in his fourth he flied out to left, and in his fifth he got a base hit. Ortiz is back and in a big way. Lowrie also impressed with his performance tonight. In addition to his offensive success (a double, a sacrifice fly, a base hit, and the strike out), he showed defensive prowess at short.