At first glance, yesterday’s game might have appeared to be just one of 162. Coming into the game closer to third place than first and playing a fourth-place team, it would not have been unreasonable to expect a mundane, getaway-day affair prior to a much-needed off day. What transpired at Rogers Centre yesterday, however, showed just how much importance the Red Sox placed on this one. Battered by injuries and coming off their largest shutout defeat in 15 months, the Sox realized they could not afford to leave Canada without a win and subsequently did everything within their power to do so, prevailing 6-5 in 11 innings against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Jed Lowrie broke a 5-5 tie with one out in the 11th by slamming a Brandon League slider over the right field fence for the switch hitter’s first career homer from the left side of the plate. But the heroics weren’t limited to Lowrie. Four Sox relievers combined for five scoreless innings, including a pair from Jonathan Paplebon (5-3) and another by Manny Delcarmen, who earned his second major league save. Left fielder Jason Bay made a leaping grab at the wall in the 10th to rob Alex Rios of extra bases, while Jacoby Ellsbury insisted on remaining in the game despite having his face battered and shoulder bruised by a full-speed collision with the right field wall as he hauled in Adam Lind’s deep drive in the fourth. When Delcarmen struck out Jose Bautista with a man on first to end it, the giant, collective exhale from the visitors dugout all but made the adjacent CN Tower sway. Ellsbury’s catch may have been the most memorable moment. Bruised, shaken up and unable to put back a contact lens that was jarred loose, he remained at the base of the fence being treated for nearly 10 minutes, drawing boos from the restless crowd.
Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka fell short of his bid to tie Hideo Nomo’s record for most victories by a native of Japan (1996, ’02, ’03) and remained at 15-2 after allowing five runs on eight hits in six innings. For the third time in as many games, the Sox found themselves in an immediate hole due to a two-run home run in the first inning. Alex Rios did so on Friday, while Vernon Wells accomplished the feat yesterday for the second consecutive game, pounding a Matsuzaka slider left over the heart of the plate into the left field seats. Jays starter A.J. Burnett, who entered the game having won six straight starts, didn’t look like someone who had dominated the Sox in five prior showdowns (4-0, 1.98 ERA). He gave up five runs on seven hits and three walks, while striking out seven batters, and surrendered a pair of leads. Burnett gave up four runs in the third inning, including a Dustin Pedroia two-out, three-run homer. The Sox had a 4-2 lead after the third, but it proved to be flimsy. Matsuzaka gave up a solo homer to Lyle Overbay in the fourth, followed by two more runs in the sixth on RBI doubles by Wells and Rod Barajas, permitting Toronto to pull ahead, 5-4. Coco Crisp quickly erased the deficit, however, leading off the seventh by crushing a Burnett fastball over the right field fence for his seventh homer of the season.
Nation Notes: David Aardsma, who officially went on the DL yesterday, and Julio Lugo are both scheduled for MRIs today in Boston. Both will stay in Boston for the rest of the road trip, and will work out with rehabilitation coordinator Scott Waugh. David Pauley arrived before the game, taking Aardsma’s spot on the roster.
