It may have required a trip deep into the murky depths of the Orioles bullpen but a win is a win (and to go thirteen rounds only to be KO'd would suck.) If there's a game tomorrow (NOAA has a dismal forecast for Baltimore), someone needs to stress to Lester that he's going to have to throw strikes. There isn't enough left in the Sox 'pen for him to start messing about walking people.
And while it wasn't a bad performance, I can't imagine that Beckett is very pleased with the way he pitched tonight. He threw one hundred and eighteen pitches over six innings. He was having a very hard time finding the strike zone and repeatedly fell behind the hitter. He faced twenty-six batters and rode the count full to nine of them. Miraculously, he struck out ten of them and only gave up four hits. He did allow two runs-one on a homerun. He also had a truly bizarre sixth inning. He got two strike outs (both swinging) and then walked the next three batters to load the bases. [Aside: I did think that the difference between the crowd's reaction when Beckett nearly hit Millar and when one of the relievers nearly hit one of the other Orioles (I don't remember who was involved-it's all a blur) was amusing. It sounded as if the whole crowd gasped for Millar and I may have yelled at the television: Don't hit Millar! And the later incidence? Not so much.] I'm not sure I've ever seen Beckett walk three batters in a row. He did get the last batter to strike out, though.
The bullpen, normally not a particularly strong point, did a nice job tonight. They went seven innings and didn't allow any runs. The first out was Okajima. He went two innings, gave up a hit and struck out one.
Manny Del emerged to pitch the ninth. He got two quick outs (on a fly-out and a strike out) before giving up a basehit (the runner would later steal second, narrowly avoiding being caught by Varitek.) He then walked a batter but came back to get the last out on a ground out to third and a nice throw by Lowell.
Javier Lopez was brought out next to face two lefties. It was a typical Lopez performance. He vacillates between being good and being not so good. Today, he gave up a hit to the first batter after falling behind three and one (not so good.) But he got the next batter to fly out to center and didn't allow the runner to advance (good.)
With righty Millar coming up, Lopez got the hook in favor of Hansen. Hansen ended up pitching an inning and a third. In Lopez' inning, he got Millar to ground out, intentionally walked the next batter, and got the last batter to strike out swinging. In his own inning, he got a ground out, a strike out, and a fly out.
Timlin came out for the twelfth inning. I'll admit that I cringed at the prospect and it didn't look like it was going to go to well. He got the first batter to strike out but then gave up a double to the second. They intentionally walked the next batter to get to Millar. I think Millar might have a soft spot for Timmeeh-in the last series, Millar popped out harmlessly to short for Timlin and tonight he grounded out to short but didn't make a super effort to beat out the throw. Then with two out and runners on second and third, Timlin again intentionally walked a batter. The last out of the inning came on a bases loaded fly out to left.
Papelbon, finally, finished the game off. He got a ground out and two strike outs.
I think I may have said (or maybe I just thought it) that the Orioles were not a particularly error-prone team. I mean, they weren't perfect but they weren't doing that badly before tonight. They did just have an epic game against the Yankees a couple of days ago; so maybe they were just tired. Regardless, it was the Orioles' errors that allowed the Sox to win the game.
They scored two runs off Daniel Cabrera in the first inning and things were looking up (although, not too far up-the last time they played Cabrera they scored three runs off him in the first inning only to have the lead blown by Okajima and Jay Payton.) Ellsbury started things off with a double. Pedroia sacrificed to move him over and then Ortiz got a single to bring Jacoby home. Manny doubled and Ortiz moved to third. And then Lowell had a sacrifice fly that knocked in Ortiz.
Then Cabrera mostly settled down and the Sox returned to the leaving-too-many-men-on-base-ways that plagued them the last time they were down there. They left eleven of them there tonight and only scored on two out of fifteen opportunities. There was a funky little attempt at a suicide squeeze play in the second inning. Coco had drawn a walk but the ball got away from the catcher so he hustled his way to second base. He then stole third. Cora then attempted the bunt but missed and Coco was caught.
Offensively, nothing particularly interesting happened again until the ninth inning. Coco was the second to bat and on a three-one count the umpire called him out on strikes. Coco turned around and gave him a look that said: What the hell are you talking about? He stepped back into the batter's box and had some words for the umpire. The umpire was not to pleased to be hearing it from Coco; but honestly, if the umpire doesn't know the count, then it's a sad state of affairs. Francona had to come out to settle things down and then Coco popped-out to short. Not exactly poetic justice, but it is what happened.
The Sox were finally able to break through in the top of the thirteenth inning. After getting a second chance because the Orioles catcher dropped a foul ball, Ortiz grounded out to first for the first out of the inning. Manny reached on a throwing error and then took second while they were still trying to find the ball. Lowell got a basehit and Manny booked his way around to be the go-ahead run. Youkilis got a basehit and Lowell moved to second. Then the two of them paired up to double steal second and third. Varitek struck out for the second out of the inning. Coco was safe at first on the shortstop's throwing error. And then, while they were trying to retrieve the ball, Lowell came around to score, Youkilis came around to score, and Coco took second. Coco then took third on a wild pitch. Lugo drew a walk and then stole second. Ellsbury, unfortunately, struck out swinging to end the fun.
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