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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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BOSTON STRONG - August 7, 2013 ... For the second straight night, the Red Sox overcame a deficit of at least three runs, as Stephen Drew's three-run ninth-inning home run stunned the Astros, 7-5 at Minute Maid Park and gave Boston its 27th comeback win of the season. It was another improbable victory in a stretch run already full of them, as the Red Sox have won six of their last seven in come-from-behind fashion. They are now 12-6 in rubber games this season. The win prevented what could have been a worrisome series loss to baseball's worst team. Instead, the late heroics have the Sox up by 2 1/2 games on the Rays, who lost to the D-backs, 9-8, in the American League East. Drew played the role of hero again, one week removed from his walk-off single in the 15th inning against Seattle on July 31. With Houston on the verge of cementing its first series win since mid-June, Drew stepped to the plate with one out in the ninth inning and the Sox trailing, 5-4. On an 0-1 curveball from reliever Josh Fields, Drew launched a towering shot that just cleared the right-field fence, eliciting a massive fist pump from Jonny Gomes, who was on first base, and another raucous ninth-inning scene in Boston's dugout. Since missing 16 games with a right hamstring injury and activated off the disabled list July 20, Drew's become a force near the bottom of the Sox's lineup. Drew has put together an eight-game hitting streak, batting .464 with two home runs, eight walks and seven RBIs. Most importantly, he's got two wins to his credit. He is 13 of 28 with three extra-base hits and seven RBIs in eight games since Jose Iglesias was traded. Like Gomes, he has a low batting average but has come up with a series of important hits this season. Even for a lineup that posted 15 runs the night before, tonight's production was impressive by almost any measure. Vaunted Astros rookie Jarred Cosart entered the game with a 0.96 ERA in his first four big league starts, having shut down Tampa Bay, Oakland, Minnesota and Toronto over 28 innings. The Sox chipped away with a run each in the second and third innings, using Cosart's five walks and flat fastball to piece together rallies off the rookie. Designated hitter David Ortiz certainly smelled fresh blood on the mound. He went 4-for-5, including a first-inning single to left that beat the shift, to lodge the first consecutive four-hit games of his career. When the Astros finally got Ortiz out in the seventh, it snapped his string of 10 plate appearances reaching base and a seven at-bat hitting streak. Ortiz is 17 of 27 (.630) in seven games against the Astros this season. It was Gomes with another big blast, as Boston struck back quickly, trimming the lead to 5-4 with a two-run liner over the elevated left-field wall in the seventh. It was his 10th home run of the year and came one night after he hit a pinch-hit, three-run homer to cap a five-run inning during a comeback win. Ryan Dempster was solid before that sixth inning, but he couldn't hold the rope, finishing with a line of five runs on seven hits and seven strikeouts over six innings. Though he's been on the mound for quite a few of Boston's comebacks this year, it's a scenario the veteran would rather avoid during the season's final third. Dempster allowed five runs on seven hits. He has a 7.26 earned run average and a 1.88 WHIP in his last four starts. Junichi Tazawa (5-3) threw two perfect innings in relief of Ryan Dempster before Koji Uehara picked up his 11th save. He allowed a single but otherwise struck out the side. Uehara has 15 scoreless innings in a row and has allowed one earned run over 28 innings in his last 26 appearances. Boston has now won nine of its last 10 against the Astros, claiming the season series, 6-1, after sweeping a four-game April set against its new American League rivals in Fenway. Red Sox righthander Clay Buchholz threw 27 pitches in the bullpen at Minute Maid Park today, his first such work since July 14 in Oakland. He came away enthused about the condition of his shoulder and plans to throw again in Kansas City. Buchholz, Dempster, and Jon Lester had lunch with Roger Clemens and two of his sons before the game. The Sox placed lefthander Matt Thornton on the 15-day disabled list with a muscle strain on the left side of his rib cage. Righthanded reliever Pedro Beato was recalled from Pawtucket. |
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