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JASON VARITEK |
A
POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
Jason Varitek leads
a comeback
June 9, 2007
...
J.D.
Drew had three more hits, scored twice, and was in the middle of the
10th-inning rally that gave the Sox a 4-3 win over the Diamondbacks
before 49,826, the largest crowd to see a baseball game in Arizona.
David Ortiz scored the winning run on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by
Mike Lowell off Juan Cruz. Ortiz had walked and advanced on singles
by Kevin Youkilis and Drew. Cruz struck out Jason Varitek, but Lowell
followed with a fly ball to right hit deep enough to allow Ortiz to
score standing up.
Jonathan
Papelbon, who had not pitched in six days, pitched the 10th and recorded the
save, his 14th of the season but first since May 28. The win went to Hideki
Okajima, one week to the day of his first, after he pitched two scoreless
innings. The Sox came back from a 3-0 deficit to win their third straight game
and second in two nights here.
Varitek
hit a two-run home run off rookie Micah Owings in the sixth, and doubled home
J.D. Drew with the tying run in the eighth off former Sox reliever Brandon Lyon.
Youkilis had opened the inning with a walk and was forced by Drew, who had
singled twice, his broken-bat hit preceding Varitek's home run. Like big
brother, Stephen Drew had been slumping. He came into the game with just two
hits in his last 20 at-bats, and had homered just once in his previous 147 plate
appearances.
Stephen
Drew's home run, which carried over his brother's head, came on an 0-and-2 pitch
from Tavarez in the fourth, and followed a double by Mark Reynolds, a
23-year-old third baseman who was called up from Double A Mobile to replace
injured young star Chad Tracy and in 22 games has been the Diamondbacks' leading
hitter, taking a .329 average into the game. Incredibly, Drew's home run was the
third this week off a Red Sox pitcher on an 0-and-2 pitch. Alex Rodriguez beat
Papelbon last Sunday night in Boston, and Eric Chavez took Matsuzaka deep on an
0-and-2 pitch Tuesday night in Oakland, Calif. After Chavez's, the fifth allowed
by Sox pitchers this season (Sox hitters have yet to hit an 0-and-2 homer),
manager Terry Francona said the Sox had addressed the need to be more efficient
when holding that kind of advantage over hitters.
Tavarez
left after six, accomplishing what Sox starters had done in each of the previous
five games. He held the opposition to three runs or fewer. Tavarez was touched
for a run in the second on an infield hit by Stephen Drew, a force out, and a
double by Miguel Montero, another 23-year-old.
Manny
Ramirez, who was hit in the left hand by a pitch from Arizona right-hander Edgar
Gonzalez Friday night, was not in the lineup tonight.
Jon
Lester lasted just 2 2/3 innings last night in his latest rehab start with
Pawtucket, as manager Ron Johnson evidently decided the lefthander was better
off not laboring beyond the 70 pitches he threw to get eight outs. Lester
allowed Ottawa three runs on five hits, and left trailing, 3-0. His rehab
assignment cannot go past June 18, so it would appear he'll make at least one
more start before his call-up.
Diasuke
Matsuzaka took batting practice, Japanese reporters recording his every swing,
and drove a ball that hit the 413-foot sign in left-center, about the same spot
that J.D. Drew hit one a little farther for a home run that night. Bench coach
Brad Mills pitched to Matsuzaka. |
