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MIKE NAPOLI'S WALK-OFF |
The Red Sox hit back-to-back HRs
for a 10th inning walk-off win
June 18, 2014 ... By the time the bottom of the 10th inning rolled around on at Fenway Park, the Red Sox were just hoping for some semblance of offense. A broken-bat single or a bloop that found some
grass or maybe a liner to the gap would have been nice. Through nine innings, they had all of one hit.
That's why the ending -- which contained double-barrel action from David Ortiz and Mike Napoli -- was so stunning and sweet. The two
sluggers went back to back, the latter a walk-off shot by Napoli that finished off a thrilling 2-1 victory to complete a three-game sweep of the Twins on Wednesday afternoon at Fenway Park. The Red Sox were two outs from a loss when Ortiz took Casey Fien around Pesky's Pole in right field to tie the game. Then it was Napoli's turn, and he drilled an 0-2 pitch off Fien over the wall in center to end it.
The last time the Red Sox finished a game with back-to-back homers was when the unlikely tandem of Darren Lewis and Jeff Frye pulled it off against the Twins on June 14, 1999. It was just the third time the Sox have gone back to back this season and the first since April 26.
In the three-game sweep, the Sox mustered just five runs, making it clear how dominant their pitching was. The last time Boston won three straight games with five or fewer runs was at Toronto from Aug. 24-26, 1990. Dana Kiecker, Roger Clemens and Greg Harris were the starters in those games.
John Lackey was front and center in this one, firing nine scoreless innings while allowing three hits, walking one and striking out nine. The selfless Lackey wasn't worried about taking a no-decision.
The game was nearly a crushing loss. Koji Uehara's 21-innings scoreless streak ended at an inopportune time, as Chris Parmelee
belted a solo homer just over the Boston bullpen in right-center to give the Twins the lead in the top of the 10th. Three of Parmelee's four homers this season have been against the Red Sox. The other one was a walk-off blast against Andrew Miller on May 13.
Gibson was every bit as dominant as Lackey. The righty fired seven innings of one-hit ball, walking none and striking out eight. Boston's only hit against him was a double by Daniel Nava with two outs in the
fifth. Before that, Gibson had retired the first 14 batters.
Ortiz thought he had a hit in the seventh when he laced a grounder that first baseman Joe Mauer bobbled after a half dive. The play was ruled an error, and Ortiz looked up to the press box and gave official scorer
Bob Ellis a thumbs down, shaking his head as he walked off the field at the end of the inning. Whatever frustration Ortiz felt was long gone by the time he took Fien around the foul pole and played setup man for Napoli. |
