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Red Sox Walk Off With Win In Extra Frames

The Red Sox certainly have a flare for the dramatic. One day after having their tuchases handed to them, the Sox walked off with a win in 11 innings 5-4.

The game progressed with both starting pitchers throwing well, effectively scattering hits/walks/errors to prevent any offense from occurring, until the 3rd, that is. With one out, Darnell McDonald walked, Marco Scutaro doubled, J.D. Drew was hit by a pitch, and Victor Martinez singled in two runs for the lead. Not to be outdone, the Jays came back in the top of the 4th, with John McDonald doubling after two walks to score a run. The Jays got greedy and tried to tie it, though, and Lyle Overbay was thrown out trying to score. Victor Martinez was kind enough to hold onto the ball despite getting bulldozed.

Boston, not wanting to blow another lead, made another move in the top of the 5th; the same group as last time (from Scutaro onwards) hit three straight singles to score a run, and Adrian Beltre plated another with a single later in the inning for the 4-1 lead. Everything would have been fine, except Dice-K tried to pitch again. In the 6th, a single, double, sac fly, and home run tied the game at four. Lyle Overbay did the final damage with a two-run long-ball, continuing his homer spree against Boston.

Drew and Martinez singled again in the 7th, but that time, the mini-rally fell short. In the 8th, Mike Lowell led off with a ground-rule two-base error to shortstop Yunel Escobar (his second oopsy of the night). Daniel Nava pinch-hit for newb Yamaico Navarro with one out, but was immediately pinch-hit for himself with Jed Lowrie following a pitching change; Lowrie walked. But, unfortunately, McDonald struck out and Scutaro grounded out to end the inning in very anti-climactically. David Ortiz wasted a lead-off walk in the 9th after grounding into a double play, too.

In the 10th, Travis Snider singled for Toronto and advanced to 2nd on a throwing error by Bill Hall, but was later tagged out in a rundown before a double play ended that half-inning, and the Red Sox went down in order during their turn, as did the Jays in the 11th (despite Jed Lowrie dropping a foul popup). No prob, though; Lowrie made up for it by jacking a high-arching ball into the bullpen in right to walk off with the win in 11 innings.

Sox Stud of the Game: Jed Lowrie

Lowrie came through in a big pressure situation, and allowed me to go to bed at a decent hour.

Sox Dud of the Game: Daisuke Matsuzaka

That guy always seems to have a problem in one inning, and has trouble keeping leads because of it.

That’s What He Said:

“We needed to get some length from our starter and Dice-K did a great job.” – Red Sox Pitching Coach John Farrell on the taxed bullpen.

Game Notes

W: Jonathan Papelbon (5-5)
L: Casey Janssen (4-2)

• Fred Lewis stole 2nd and 3rd base in the 3rd inning. With their total at 41, the Blue Jays have still stolen the least bases in the league.
• Carlos Delgado was placed on the 7-day disabled list in Pawtucket with a sore (non-surgically repaired) left hip. If he’s not with Boston by the end of the month, he can opt out of his deal.
• The Sox now trail the Yankees by 6.5 games, and the Rays by five. As of press time, the Rays were tied in Oakland in the 6th.

Tags: Adrian Beltre, Bill Hall, Carlos Delgado, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Daniel Nava, Darnell McDonald, David Ortiz, J.D. Drew, Jed Lowrie, John Farrell, Jonathan Papelbon, Marco Scutaro, Mike Lowell, Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Victor Martinez, Yamaico Navarro