April 23, 2007
...
The Red
Sox fell 7-3, to Toronto in a game that offered scant reminders of
their three-game weekend sweep of the Yankees. Their five-game
winning streak came to an end; the Blue Jays, meanwhile, won for the
first time after losing five straight.
There
were home runs, but none by the Sox for the first time in 10 games, after a
night when they claimed a spot in the record book with four straight and five
overall. Frank Thomas, newly ensconced in the American League East but long a
great Fenway Park hitter (.333, 17 home runs, 54 RBIs) hit a two-run blast, the
490th of his career, off Tim Wakefield in the sixth, when the Jays seized the
lead for good.
Aaron
Hill, who had four hits, belted a two-run home run in the ninth off Mike Timlin,
who kept his head (literally) when he caught Gregg Zaun's savage liner at nose
level. But after that play, Timlin served up an 0-and-2 pitch that Hill lost
over the Monster in left-center field.
The Sox
gloves weren't quite as reliable when they weren't playing self-defense. A night
after rookie second baseman Dustin Pedroia saved the Sox with a terrific catch,
the defense turned wobbly. After Wells dropped a two-out double 6 feet short of
the Wall over a shallow-playing Manny Ramirez, Mirabelli threw a ball past third
baseman Mike Lowell in the first when Wells stole third, allowing Wells to come
home.
Lowell
made a two-base error in the second inning, his sixth miscue of the season,
matching his total in 153 games last year. Center fielder Wily Mo Pena, playing
for a tender Coco Crisp (tight oblique) wasn't charged with an error, but he
stumbled and fell after being turned around on Wells' ninth-inning liner over
his head, allowing Wells to sprint around the bases for a triple. Wells, who had
walked ahead of Thomas's home run, scored ahead of Hill's homer.
There
was a strong effort by a Japanese pitcher, but this one was wearing a Toronto
uniform. Tomo Ohka, who broke into the big leagues with Boston and was taken
deep three times by the Sox last week in Toronto, limited the Sox to three runs
(two earned) in five innings, the only damage done by Pedroia's two-run double
in the fifth.
And the
bullpen that had been all but untouchable for a week - one run allowed in 14
innings over six games, a span that included two wins and five saves - took its
lumps. Hill doubled off Joel Piniero in the eighth, took third on a sacrifice
bunt, and scored on a sacrifice fly by pinch hitter Adam Lind off J.C. Romero to
make it 5-3. John McDonald followed with a double and Alex Rios was walked
intentionally, before Lyle Overbay was retired on an infield out. Mike Timlin
was unable to keep it close in the ninth.
The
offense? The first four hitters in the Sox lineup managed just a single (by
Kevin Youkilis in the first inning). Ohka departed after Lowell singled to open
the sixth, Pena followed with a base hit off reliever Casey Janssen, and a run
scored when McDonald threw away Julio Lugo's two-out grounder. But Youkilis
bounced into a force play to end the inning. The Sox managed just one hit,
Mirabelli's single, the rest of the way.
Terry
Francona said Coco Crisp could have played last night but the manager gave Crisp
another day to heal. Wily Mo Pena had a hit in four trips in Crisp's place, but
in addition to a couple of tumbles in the field, he also hit the bag awkwardly
after his sixth-inning single.
Portland
center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury has reached safely in all 11 Sea Dogs games,
hitting in 10 of them.
