The offense wasn’t there like it was the night before, but the pitching was just as good as Curt Schilling and the Red Sox pen pitched Boston to a 2-1 win. Schilling gave up the lone run in 5 1/3 innings while Hideki Okajima was awesome with 2 1/3 perfect innings. Jon Papelbon closed things out and he picked up the save with 1 1/3 innings pitched.
The Rockies got on the board in the very first inning when Willie Taveras scored on Todd Helton’s ground out. Jason Varitek tied the game up in the fourth when he drove home Mike Lowell with a sac. fly and then Lowell doubled home David Ortiz in the fifth inning to give the Red Sox the lead, and eventually, the win. The two teams combined for just eleven hits.
Man, are these games long. The opener clocked in at 3:30 while last night’s game was 3:39. I love baseball, but talk about dragging things out.
Dice-K gets the start tomorrow and the Red Sox will have to contend with Josh Fogg. And David Ortiz will start at first base with Kevin Youkilis starting the game on the bench. My bet is, Youkilis gets in there and makes an impact whether it’s just with one at bat as a pinch hitter or a late inning defensive replacement.
