September 5, 2007
...
Manny Delcarmen, called upon to protect a one-run lead in the eighth,
gave up a tying home run to Troy Glaus. Hideki Okajima, summoned in a
tie game to pitch the ninth, was taken out of the yard by Vernon
Wells, who emerged from a horrendous slump (5 for 45) with three
hits, including the two-run home run to dead center field that was
the difference in a 6-4 Blue Jays win. Okajima is 3-2 and has allowed
eight runs in his last 13 2/3 innings.
The loss,
before a crowd of 37,106 in Fenway Park, reduced the Sox' advantage in the
American League East to six games over the Yankees with 22 to play for both
teams. The Sox will spend the weekend playing a four-game series in Baltimore
beginning tonight. The Yankees have today off, then go to Kansas City for three
against the Royals.
Alex Cora,
who replaced Dustin Pedroia at second base last night against the Blue Jays,
lined into a double play in the second inning. Cora cost the Sox a potential big
inning in the fifth, when he failed to get a bunt down, whiffing feebly on his
third bunt attempt. He left another runner in scoring position when he flied out
in the sixth.
But Cora
made two plays that placed the Sox in position to win. Nothing as dramatic, to
be sure, as Jason Varitek's two-run home run that gave the Sox a 4-3 lead in the
sixth, or the double, run scored, and sacrifice fly by the kid outfielder,
Jacoby Ellsbury.
But Cora
made winning plays, the kind Francona will file away as vindication for his
decision. In the second inning, with Toronto runners on second and third and
starter Curt Schilling looking for an escape route, Cora raced into short right
field to flag down Aaron Hill's blooper, fully extending his glove hand at the
last moment to make the catch before the ball could wreak havoc.
Then, in the
seventh, when Francona made the eyebrow-raising decision to bring in call-up
Bryan Corey to replace Schilling with a 4-3 lead, Cora came up big again. With
Vernon Wells aboard on a leadoff single, Cora fielded Matt Stairs's ground ball
and with a shovel flip started a double play that eliminated that threat. The
Sox were unable to protect that advantage, Glaus hitting one to the Allston
tollbooth on the Pike off Delcarmen to tie the score at 4 in the eighth.
Francona
eschewed the use of Pedroia for Cora as a pinch hitter in the eighth. Varitek
had opened the inning by lining a single off the leg of reliever Casey Janssen.
The ball popped into the air, and Janssen made an awkward attempt to barehand it
but couldn't hold on. Coco Crisp tried to bunt Varitek into scoring position but
popped out to catcher Gregg Zaun. Janssen went no further, giving way to Jeremy
Accardo, who was given as many warm-ups as he deemed necessary because Janssen
came out with an injury. Cora grounded into a force play for the second out, and
Accardo shattered Julio Lugo's bat on an inning-ending roller to short.
The Sox had
taken a 1-0 lead in the first off Shaun Marcum, the righthander who came into
the game having won seven of his last eight decisions. Ellsbury grounded a
double down the third base line, and the Sox loaded the bases on David Ortiz's
walk and a Mike Lowell single. J.D. Drew hit a ball sharply to second base,
where Hill gloved the ball in self-defense and was able to turn a force play at
second, Ellsbury scoring. Schilling held the lead until the fifth, when the Jays
scored three times on a walk to Zaun and four straight singles by Wells, Stairs,
Alex Rios, and Frank Thomas.
Ellsbury's
bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the home fifth made it 3-2, and Varitek's home
run, his 13th of the season, came after Kevin Youkilis had been nicked on the
right elbow by a pitch from Brian Wolfe, who started the sixth in Marcum's
place. The Sox loaded the bases in the seventh on two walks and Ortiz's bloop
single, but Janssen struck out Drew (to loud boos) and Youkilis to end the
inning.
Dustin
Pedroia was scheduled to have a night off, even though he'd had multiple hits in
his last five games, going 13 for 23, a .565 pace. Pedroia's average of .329
would be the fifth highest ever by a Sox rookie. Alex Cora, who was 1 for his
last 12, started at second base and made a terrific catch of Aaron Hill's
blooper into short right with runners on second and third and one out in the
second inning.
Coco Crisp
came into last night's game with just three hits in 27 at-bats (.111) in his
last eight games. J.D. Drew has just eight RBIs in his last 30 games and has
had multi-RBI games just three times since June 25. Drew has not had a multihit
game since Aug. 2nd
