Buchholz didn't pitch well tonight. Tavarez didn't pitch well tonight. Aardsma didn't pitch terribly. Lopez was good. Okajima was lucky. Papelbon wasn't himself. But if you must blame someone for the loss, I would go with my Dad; life-long Red Sox fan, he moved to Florida in the winter of 2004 but is up for the weekend because of Mother's Day. Never one to watch losing games, he took off in the third inning but came back into the room right as Papelbon was taking the mound. He's bad luck. Admittedly, back when he went to games, he didn't go to too many a year (one, maybe two) but he never saw them win in person. He has since, mostly, stopped going (he did go to the Beckett start in Tampa with me late last month.)
Buchholz didn't have good command tonight and lasted only four innings as a result. He threw eighty-two pitches; thirty-one for balls and fifty-one for strikes. He walked only one batter, though. He struck out six be also gave up five runs on ten hits. He wasn't wild; it was just that, more often then not, his change-up stayed too high and was, therefore, hittable.
Francona began piecing together the rest of the night by calling on Julian Tavarez to pitch in the fifth inning. The same Julian Tavarez he hasn't had pitch since April 24. And it showed. He allowed the first two batters he faced to get base hits. The next batter got a sacrifice bunt. With one out and runners on second and third, he gave up a double to the next batter that scored two additional runs for Detroit. The runner moved to third on a fly out and came around to score on a single.
The next pitcher out of the 'pen was Aardsma. Aardsma continues to have trouble with throwing strikes not balls. But despite walking two men in his inning, he got out of it without anymore trouble from the Tigers. Javier Lopez continues to play his mind games with me. He pitched the eighth inning and threw only three pitches outside the strike zone to get his three outs (a ground out, a fly out, and a ground out.) What's more, he got his outs in fifteen pitches.
Okajima's performance tonight was a little bit shaky and the result of quite a bit of good karma coming his way. The first batter he saw flied out to left on the first pitch he threw. He then gave up a single to the each of the next two batters he saw. The runners were off on the three-two pitch (but in the case of Ordonez *tilde implied* not very hard), the batter struck out, Varitek then tossed to Lowell for the double play at third to end the inning.
The Papelbon who took the mound in the ninth is not the Papelbon one is used to seeing in these situations. He gave up two hits and didn't strike anyone out. His control didn't appear to be in existence (nearly tossing the ball over Varitek's almost fully extended reach at one point.) He gave up a base hit to the first batter and the second reached on an error by Lugo. The third batter was out on a sacrfice bunt and the fourth drove in the tying run by grounding out to second. The winning run came off the single of the last batter Papelbon faced.
Lugo had another good night offensively and rough night defensively. I don't have huge amounts of sympathy for him but it's tough to see him going from looking so smiley and carefree in the dugout to a combination of a little bit scared, quite a bit pissed-off, and very dangerous on the field after he makes an error. It's pretty clear that he's not trying to screw up. But he's probably pushing himself too hard and becoming sloppy because of it. Also, it's pretty clear that unless he gets a lot more practice, Jed Lowrie isn't going to be a second baseman.
The offense that the Red Sox put up was pretty impressive-especially considering that the came back from a 0-4 deficit in the third inning to lead 9-8 going into the ninth. Youkilis hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning and a solo home run in the sixth; Lowell hit a three-run in the seventh inning. They left a lot of men on base, though.
In the first inning, Ellsbury started things off by getting a base hit to center. Lowrie was batting next and hit into what should have been a fielder's choice but because he tripped over his own feet on his way out of the batter's box turned into a double play. Ortiz doubled (barely) but Manny flew out to end the inning.
The second inning consisted of three Red Sox batters retired in order on a line out, a strike out, and a ground out. In the third inning, Varitek struck out swinging but then Lugo hit a double to the base of the left field wall. Ellsbury struck out looking and Lowrie flied out to left to end the inning.
They finally scored some runs in the fourth inning. With two outs, Lowell singled to center. Then, Youkilis sent a home run to left field and the Red Sox had two. The last out came on a swinging strike out for Drew.
The fifth inning started off with Varitek drawing a walk and Lugo being hit by a pitch. Ellsbury hit into a fielder's choice and moved Varitek over to third. Ellsbury stole second and Lowrie hit a fly ball to left which allowed Varitek to come around and score. Ortiz then singled to left and Ellsbury came around to score another Red Sox run. In the sixth inning, the only hit the Red Sox had was Youkilis' home run.
Ellsbury started off the seventh inning by hitting a single and then stealing second. Lowrie grounded out to first and Ellsbury moved over to third. Manny walked and then Lowell hit his home run. The inning ended with a strike out by Youkilis that he was not at all happy about and nearly got himself thrown out of the game over.
In the eighth inning, Drew walked and eventually stole second. Varitek flied out and Lugo walked. Ellsbury struck out but then Pedroia pinch hit for Lowrie, got a single, and drove in the lead run of the game. Lowell had a double in the eighth inning but nothing came of it.
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