WP: Duchscherer (2-1)
LP: Donnelly (0-1)
SV: Street (7)
BS: Papelbon (1)
HRs: OAK- Johnson (1), Buck (3)
Sox box
I didn't want to say this, but Boston got beat by a Buck-n-Johnson
SUMMARY:
Sox starter Curt Schilling pitched a brilliant game (7IP, 8H, 2ER, 0BB, 7K) and Boston apppeared well on its way to winning for the 5th time in the last 6 games.
But the normally reliable bullpen allowed the game-tying homer in the 9th and game-losing double in the 10th to send Boston to a heartbreaking May Day loss.
HERO: Travis Buck 3-5, 2R, 2RBI, 2B, HR
Let's say it together, shall we: who the f**k is Travis Buck?
The Sox found out that he is the 23-year-old rookie rightfielder for the Oakland A's who must be a pretty good hitter, despite his .221 average. How do I know this? Because he proved it by rapping three hits tonight and by taking the untouchable one, Jonathan Papelbon, deep to tie the game in the 9th inning, giving Paps his first runs allowed and blown save all season.
GOAT(s): Boston pen 3IP, 5H, 3ER, BB, 3K
There's no getting around it-the bully lost the game for the Sox tonight. Oki did fine in his inning of work, but Papelbon allowed the tying runs in his nightmare 9th (1IP, 3H, 2R, BB, HR), then Black Donnelly gave up back-to-back doubles to start the 10th, and that was all she wrote.
Hey, these guys have been great so far this season, they're allowed one screw up. Just one.
RECAP:
Because April ended on such a positive note Sunday, with RSN riding the high of taking 5 of 6 from the Stanks and the Sox finishing the month with the best record in the league, it made what happened tonight all the more difficult to digest.
Yeah there's nothing like a good swift kick in the head to make a native Bostonian forget about any good times he may have been having earlier in the day. And that's exactly what it felt like when Travis Bickle, errr Buck drilled a 0-2 fastball from Papelbon into the rightfield seats to tie a game that just a couple of innings earlier seemed to be a sure Boston victory.
That's because Schilling was pitching like the Schill of old, mowing down Oakland hitters while scattering 8 hits & a couple of runs and putting in the requisite 7-8 innings before handing the keys over to the night crew. The Sox hitters were doing their part as well, picking right up where they left off in the Bronx by posting a 3-spot before the box seats were even filled and pushing the lead to 4-0 with a single run in the 3rd off A's starter Joe Blanton (7IP, 6H, 4ER, 2BB, 4K).
The Sox struck quickly in the first thanks to three bloop hits, a sac fly and two stolen bases. Coco, back in the 2-hole tonight, beat out an infield single and stole second, then after Papi (2-5, R) blooped a bingle to left, Manny knocked him in with a sharply-hit opposite field sac fly. Youk, batting 5th in place of the ailing J.D. Drew, singled & stole second also, then Lowell hit a shot to short that Bobby Crosby knocked down but threw to the wrong base, allowing both runners to score.
In the third inning Coco led off with a walk, was singled to third by Manny then scored on a sac fly by Youk to give Boston a solid (with the way Schill was pitching) 4-0 lead.
Curt gave a run back in the 4th when first baseman Dan Johnson launched a solo shot to right to put the A's on the board, but after that Schilling retired 8 out of 10 batters before running into a spot of trouble in the 7th. That's when Buck led off with a double, Jason Kendall singled him over to third, and former Sox Todd Walker, batting for the recently acquired Ryan Langerhans, hit a slicing, sinking liner to center that Coco somehow caught but the run scored.
Still, Schilling escaped further damage that inning by getting Shannon Stewart to ground out and Mark Ellis to pop out to Youk, and with a 2-run lead and the best bully in the game rested & ready, it looked like the win was in the bag.
But something happened along the way to victory #17, and it came from the most unexpected source: that rock-solid bullpen. Hideki Okijima took over for Schilling in the 8th and make quick work of Chavez, Johnson & Piazza, and that left Mr. Reliable to close out the win in the 9th.
Only Mr. Reliable was a little off right from the start of the inning. He gave up a single to Crosby on his second pitch, then came the shot heard 'round Beantown, the one that ruined Paps' perfect season, not to mention win #17. Even after Buck's demoralizing homer, Papelbon still couldn't find his dominant form; he allowed another single and a walk before ending the inning with a foul out and groundout.
With both of its best relievers already used it was up to the rest of the pen to come through until the Sox could scratch out a run. But that plan lasted less than an inning as Brendan Donnelly gave up a double to Mike Piazza on the first pitch he threw, then a double to Johnson 5 pitches later, and the A's had their first lead of the game, 5-4. The run would hold up as Boston came up just short of tying it when Youk's soaring fly ball came to rest in Stewart's glove just in front of the Wall to end the game.
We can't harp on this one too much, though. It had to happen sometime (Paps blowing a save), and I'd rather it happened when the Sox hold a 3+ game lead in May than if they were down three games in September.
As long as this was an aberration, and not a trend.
NOTES:
- Drew got the night off due to a stomach virus, not the current 1-19 skid he is on (wink wink)
-Tito went with a revamped lineup, rewarding Coco for his play of late by moving him back to 2nd in the order, dropping Youk to the 5-hole, and starting Hinske in right for Drew. The moves seemed to work as Coco had a nice night (1-4, BB, 2R, SB), Youk contributed a hit, run & RBI, and Hinske doubled in the 9th to start a brief rally for Boston
-Manny continues to show signs of emerging from his season-long slump: he had two more hits and an RBI tonight to raise his average to .215 and his ribbie total to 14. He is batting .272 (6-22) with 2 homers & 6 RBI in his last 6 games
-Before tonight Oakland had only allowed one run in the first inning all year
-No one could have foreseen Johnson's big game (2-5, R, 2RBI, 2B, HR); coming into the night he had no extra base hits and only 2 RBI all season
-For some reason Dustin Pedroia remains locked into the starting lineup. The slumping second sacker went 0-3 and is in the midst of a hideous 5-48 (.104) stretch that has seen his average plummet to .172-yikes!
-Tek (0-4, 2Ks, .225) and Lugo (0-5, .242) also continue to take up residence in the team meat locker
-Oki ran his scoreless streak to 12 innings, dropped his ERA to 0.66, and struck out another batter to bring his season total to 18 in 13.2 innings of work
-Oakland skipper Bob Geren was ejected in the 5th for arguing a strikeout soon after a Sox ballboy touched a ball in play, preventing the A's from scoring a run from third. Papi also protested his strikout in the third.
QUOTES:
-"Our bullpen has been phenomenal. It doesn't always work out the way you want it to."-Schill, aptly summing up the situation
-"We all get used to (Papelbon) being almost perfect. At some point, you're going to give up runs."-Tito, ever the realist
-"I'll take that loss on my back and I'll pick up the team again when they need me."-Papelbon, exuding the confidence & grit that makes him a fan favorite in the Nation
RECORD: 16-9
AL EAST: Up 3.5 on TOR
UP NEXT: vs. OAK, Wed 7P
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