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PEDRO CIRIACO |
BOSTON STRONG -
THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION
Minnesota frustrates the
Red Sox in the eighth inning
May 7, 2013 ...
Pedro Ciriaco felt he was prepared for whatever came his way when he was thrust into emergency action at Fenway Park tonight, following an injury to starting Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks. For whatever reason, Ciriaco's hands
betrayed him to start the eighth inning, as he booted two consecutive groundballs that helped lead to his team's 6-1 loss to the Twins.
The Twins would go on to score four runs in that inning, breaking open what had been a 2-0 game. It was that kind of night for Boston. The turning point seemed to be in the top of the fifth in what was actually a highlight reel play. As third baseman
Middlebrooks and catcher David Ross converged on a foul ball, they crashed into each other, with Middlebrooks making a sensational catch. Ross exited with a left quad contusion. Middlebrooks came out two innings later with right side soreness. By game's end, he was undergoing X-rays
and a CT-scan, as the Red Sox were hoping to rule out a significant rib or oblique injury. This was supposed to be a night off for starting Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. But he pressed into duty when Ross left the game and was involved in a key play in that eighth inning
that didn't go well for his team.
With the bases loaded and nobody out, Ryan Doumit hit a crisp grounder to first baseman Mike Napoli, who fired home for the force. Saltalamacchia threw back to first for what could have been a double play, but his throw sunk on Napoli at the last instant and got
through for an error, allowing another run to score. The error was charged to Saltalamacchia, and the Red Sox were staring at a 6-0 hole.
Before things became discombobulated in the eighth, the story of the night for the Red Sox was Ryan Dempster. With the bullpen short-handed and missing two key pieces -- Andrew Bailey and Joel Hanrahan -- Dempster did exactly what Boston had hoped. In fact, he
was still in the game when the eighth inning started. Dempster went seven-plus innings while allowing five hits and four runs, just two of which were earned. He walked one and struck out eight.
Twins lefty Scott Diamond didn't give the Red Sox much of a chance to win, firing seven scoreless innings for the win. Diamond gave up three hits and no walks while striking out two. The Sox didn't advance a runner past second until the ninth inning. From the
time Drew singled in the third to the point at which Saltalamacchia smashed a 2-and-0 pitch deep into the Monster seats in the ninth, the Twins retired 18 straight Sox
With Joel Hanrahan hitting the disabled list, joining Andrew Bailey on the DL and leaving a crater at the Red Sox closer spot, righthanded prospect Allen Webster is the most logical first step as Farrell sorted out the Sox' pitching issues. Webster, acquired
Aug. 25 from the Dodgers in the deal that sent Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, and Adrian Gonzalez to Los Angeles, made his major league debut April 21 in the Sox' 5-4 loss to the Royals. He went six innings, giving up two earned runs on five hits, striking out five and walking just one. He
got a no-decision. Franklin Morales will pitch two innings Wednesday with Double A Portland. Morales has been on the DL since spring training when he suffered a lower back strain. Late last month, he was set back by a left pectoral strain. |
