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THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE
The Orioles stop Curt Schilling
July 28, 2004 ...
In their latest misfortune, the Sox were stunned by a relatively obscure bulldog named Dave Borkowksi, a righthander who did something few unheralded pitchers have done. Borkowski, a recent Triple A call-up, overmatched Curt Schilling, holding the Sox hitless for 4 1/3 innings and putting the Birds on a glide path to a 4-1
victory before 45,780 at Camden Yards.
Borkowski surrendered only three hits over seven innings plus and allowed only one Sox player to advance past first base. B.J. Ryan took it from there, overpowering the Sox in the eighth and ninth until Ortiz struck a consolation solo homer one strike away from defeat.
Schilling went seven innings, allowing four runs on seven hits, including a pair of home runs by Javy Lopez, a solo shot in the fifth inning and a two-run blast in the seventh. Schilling walked none and struck out two as he dropped to 12-5, suffering his first loss in seven starts since June
16. But it was hard to saddle Schilling with much blame since he kept the Sox in contention, trailing only 1-0 as they entered the sixth inning.
Borkowski retired the first 13 batters before Nomar Garciaparra laced a single to center on a 1-1 pitch with one out in the fifth inning. The single extended Garciaparra's hitting streak to nine games, but it did little for the Sox, who were unable to advance him as Millar grounded out and
Varitek fanned. Nor could the Sox capitalize when Bill Mueller whistled a double into the right-field corner leading off the sixth inning.
Schilling, who recorded 16 of his 21 outs on fly balls, dropped to 5- 5 with a 3.64 ERA on the road. He is 7-0 with a 3.32 ERA at home. |
