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ROLANDO ARROJO |
SAVING FENWAY, MORE PEDRO
AND A FRUSTRATING SEASON
The Sox come back to beat the
Rays
August 16, 2000 ... Once
again given seven strong innings by Rolando Arrojo, the Red Sox
responded with a come- from-behind, 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay
Devil Rays at Fenway.
The win,
which moved the Red Sox to within four games of the Yankees, featured a
three-run seventh-inning rally in which manager Jimy Williams successfully used
two pinch hitters and two pinch runners. Carl Everett's two-run single put the
Red Sox ahead for good, giving Arrojo his second win in as many starts. It was
Arrojo's first win against the team that traded him to Colorado last winter and
for which he played his first two major league seasons. After Everett's single,
the Red Sox, who trailed, 2-1, entering the last of the seventh, got what proved
to be the deciding run on Troy O'Leary's sacrifice fly.
Arrojo, who
retired 19 of the last 22 batters he faced, gave up two runs and four hits in
his previous start, in Texas. He allowed only three hits. Boston also controlled
the finish, as Derek Lowe earned his 27th save the hard way.
Lowe yielded
a run-scoring single in relief of Rod Beck in the eighth. In the ninth, leadoff
batter Russ Johnson wound up at second after his grounder handcuffed third
baseman Lou Merloni. But Lowe got John Flaherty on a grounder to short and pinch
hitter Ozzie Guillen on a bouncer to second. And, with Johnson on third, Lowe,
after falling behind, 3-0, to Gerald Williams, came back to retire him on a
grounder to Merloni. Merloni is hitting .545 (6 for 11) since his callup from
Pawtucket, by way of Yokohama, Japan.
Arrojo, who
was just 5-9 with a 6.04 ERA with the Rockies before the Red Sox landed him in a
seven-player deal July 27, was dented for a Steve Cox triple and run-scoring
groundout in the second and Cox's homer into the Red Sox bullpen in the sixth.
But his good
work was rewarded shortly thereafter. O'Leary's second hit of the game, a
two-out triple to the triangle, was followed by Brian Daubach's line single to
center, which cut the deficit in half. In the seventh, pinch hitter Scott
Hatteberg singled and Jose Offerman, just off the disabled list, walked with one
out. With lefthander Doug Creek on to face Trot Nixon, Williams countered with
Bernard Gilkey, who singled to right to load the bases for Everett. He responded
with a shot up the middle, good for two runs and a 3-2 Boston lead. Everett
wound up at second and Gilkey at third on an error by Gerald Williams as he
fielded the ball. Nomar Garciaparra was walked intentionally, loading the bases
for O'Leary, who brought home pinch runner Darren Lewis with a sacrifice fly.
Through six
innings against Tampa Bay starter Ryan Rupe, the Red Sox had stranded six more
runners and had Nixon thrown out at home by right fielder Jose Guillen in the
fourth by a wide margin. |
