For quite a while yesterday, it looked like a mini-calamity might be unfolding for the Red Sox, a succession of events that might substantially damage the ballclub’s bid to claim the AL East title and its hold on the wild card berth.
The Sox were spanked in Game 1 of a day-night doubleheader against A.J. Burnett and the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-1, and fell behind early in Game 2 last night. With Tampa Bay winning the opener of its day-nighter in New York vs. the Yankees and taking an early lead in the night game, it appeared as though the Sox might lose two games in their pursuit of the Rays and see the teams chasing them for the wild card gain ground.
All of the negativity vanished in the late innings of the nightcap, as the Sox scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings, then added three more in the eighth, good for a 7-5 victory over the Blue Jays. With Tampa Bay losing Game 2 to the Yanks, the Sox remained just two games out of first place.
The Blue Jays, still harboring hope for a wild card miracle, posted five second-inning runs off Sox Game 2 starter Bartolo Colon to go up 5-2. But the Red Sox scrapped back with a single run in the sixth on a Jed Lowrie sacrifice fly, one more in the seventh on a fielder’s choice by Kevin Youkilis, a play on which David Ortiz’ takeout slide at second may have averted an inning-ending double play. In the eighth, Jason Bay, who escaped a recent slump with three hits, led off with a double and scored the game-tying run on a Lowrie single.
Jacoby Ellsbury brought Lowrie home with the eventual game-winner on a bizarre play. Facing tough Toronto left-handed reliever Kelly Downs with two outs, Ellsbury topped a swinging bunt down the first base line. As Downs went for the ball, he stumbled and fell flat on his face, allowing Ellsbury to reach and Lowrie to score.
Pedroia followed with a single, his 200th hit of the season. Ortiz plated an insurance run with a double off The Wall that scored Ellsbury to make it a 7-5 game. Jonathan Papelbon pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 37th save in 42 attempts.
In Game 1, pretty much everything went the Jays’ way. A. J. Burnett (18-10) was terrific, allowing three hits and one unearned run in six-plus innings. The Toronto offense, meanwhile, battered Sox starter Paul Byrd (11-12) and two relievers for 13 hits, including six doubles and a three-run homer by Travis Snider that broke the game open in the fifth inning.
With the exception of Ellsbury, who twice singled and stole second following each hit, the Red Sox were mostly overmatched against Burnett, who featured a fastball that topped out at 98 mph and a nasty curveball. Such was not the case where Byrd (five-plus innings, 10 hits, five runs) was concerned.
Nation Notes: MVP candidate Dustin Pedroia became the first Sox player to reach 200 hits in a season since Mo Vaughn in 1998. Two of his hits were doubles, giving him 50, only the eighth Sox player to do that. He now has 69 extra-base hits, tying Bobby Doerr (1940) for the most by a Red Sox second baseman. His 305 total bases breaks Doerr’s second base club mark. The Red Sox announced that reliever Hideki Okajima has made enough appearances to trigger his club option for next season. Jacoby Ellsbury stole his 46th and 47th bases of the season, third-most in Red Sox history. George Kottaras, a 25-year-old who played for Greece during the 2004 Athens Olympics, made his major league debut in the seventh inning, replacing Jason Varitek behind the plate. In his first at-bat in the bottom of the frame, Kottaras reached on a strikeout/wild pitch and ended up scoring the Sox’ lone run on Kevin Cash’s sacrifice fly. Later, he just missed a home run. Reliever Devern Hansack making a bid for the 2009 season, was impressive, he retired all nine batter he faced with three strike outs in game 1.
