May 13, 2007
...
The
cheers were still echoing after the 6-5 comeback victory from the
36,379 enjoying Mother's Day and a walkoff at Fenway Park. A dropped
popup and, the next thing you know, a combination of some magic here
and some really good players that don't quit.
The
Orioles had gotten to seven-game winner Josh Beckett for two first-inning runs,
then saw the Sox ace leave with what first would be called an avulsion of the
right middle finger. The Orioles' starter had mastered the Sox over 8 1/3
innings, until things turned suddenly and dramatically.
After 91
pitches from Jeremy Guthrie that dazzled Sox batters, the right-hander was
pulled after that popup squirted out of catcher Ramon Hernandez's glove,
allowing Coco Crisp to reach. The succession of successful at-bats quickly
became Red Sox lore.
All the
celebration swept away some of the concern over the early exit of Beckett, who
struck out seven among the 12 outs he got. On a curveball to Kevin Millar,
Beckett felt the skin tear beneath the pad on the middle finger, though he
finished off Millar and Jay Gibbons before being removed from the game.
By the
end of this one, though, few of the Fenway faithful were thinking about Beckett,
because of what happened in the ninth. After Hernandez's error, David Ortiz
doubled to left-center off Danys Baez, scoring Crisp. Wily Mo Pena, batting in
place of Manny Ramirez, who was removed with a tight hamstring before the top
half of the inning, singled to left. Chris Ray came on and walked J.D. Drew.
Suddenly, the tying run was at the plate, with the bases loaded. Kevin Youkilis
walked, scoring Ortiz and making it 5-2.
Varitek
doubled to right-center, scoring Pena and Drew to make it 5-4. Eric Hinske was
walked intentionally, loading them up again. Alex Cora then bounced into a
fielder's choice, with second baseman Brian Roberts electing to go home with a
ball that did not appear to have a chance to be converted into a double play.
That
gave Lugo, up for the second time in the inning, his chance, and he hit a ball
that rolled toward first baseman Millar. Ray was late off the mound and, as Lugo
went into a slide, the ball glanced off Ray's glove and bounced away, Varitek
and Hinske coming around to score. Sox win, 6-5, and there was chaos. The play
was eventually ruled an RBI infield single, and an error on Ray, allowing Hinske
to score.
Guthrie
had given up just three hits over eight innings before being sent out for the
ninth by Perlozzo. And, had Perlozzo perhaps made a different choice, the game
could have ended with the frustration in the other dugout. Except it didn't.
Manny
Ramirez was no longer in the game by the time the comeback came around. Having
been seen hobbling a little on a short Millar fly ball, Ramirez was replaced in
left by Wily Mo Pena heading into the top of the ninth. Pena's single in the
ninth extended the rally and sent David Ortiz to third.
The last
time the Sox came back after trailing by at least five runs in the ninth was
April 10, 1998, when Mo Vaughn hit a game-ending grand slam to produce a 9-7 win
over the Mariners. Boston started the ninth in that game trailing, 7-2. The Sox'
last walkoff victory occurred last Sept. 4, when Carlos Pena hit a solo home run
to beat the White Sox, 3-2.
Jon
Lester threw 40 pitches in a bullpen session before the game, working mostly on
his fastball and changeup. He is scheduled to throw his next bullpen Wednesday
as he comes back from cramping in his left forearm.
