Sox 6, Texas 5
WP: Pineiro (1-0)
LP: Otsuka (1-1)
SV: Okajima (3)
HRs: BOS-Tek (4), Pedroia (2); TEX: Teixeira (9)
SUMMARY
Julian Tavarez cruised through five innings allowing one hit and no runs, then surrendered four runs on five hits in a disastrous 6th inning to blow a 3-0 lead.
Luckily for Julie and Boston, the Rangers went to the bully, and for the third straight game the Sox hammered the bully for another comeback victory and series sweep.
HERO J.D. Drew 2-4, 2R, RBI
Not only did the seriously slumping rightfielder break an 0-17 skid with his fourth-inning single, he added a clutch RBI single in the 8th that tied the game at 4 and was a huge confidence booster for him and the team.
GOAT Aki Otsuka 1IP, 3H, 2R, BS, L
After starter Kameron Loe gave his team six solid innings and last night's Goat, Joaquin Benoit, chipped in with a scoreless 7th, Otsuka came on in the 8th and gave up singles to Youk, Drew & Lowell to turn a 4-3 Texas lead into a 5-4 Rangers deficit.
RECAP
It wasn't as wild, wet, weird & woolly as the previous games of the series, but this installment still had its fair share of odd plays, memorable moments, and head-scratching developments.
Balls rolled to bases, great diving catches, Youk extending his hitting streak, and two 3-run bombs were just some of the highlights of the series finale in Arlington.
One of the oddest things on the day had to be the performance of Boston starting pitcher Julian Tavarez. For five innings the guy looked like the second coming of Juan Marichal, dazzling Texas hitters with an assortment of pitches and arm angles that had him enjoying a 1-hit shutout with no walks and 6 Ks thru five, and a flamboyance that saw him roll a ball to first base for an out. Only Julian.
Then came the fifth.
In that inning alone Julie allowed five hits, a walk and four runs including a 3-run moon shot by Mark Teixeira, and before you could say Texas twister the Rangers had turned a 3-0 deficit into a 4-3 advantage.
Boston had staked Tavarez to a 3-0 lead in the fourth thanks to Cap'n Tek's 4th homer of the season, a soaring shot to right that just cleared the fence and scored Drew & Lowell, who had both singled to open the inning. Unfortunately Julie wasn't able to hold onto that advantage, although for the first five innings it looked as if he definitely was headed to his third consecutive win.
Then came the disastrous 5th, and it was once again up to the Boston batters to dent the Rangers bullpen if the Sox were to pull off the Texas trifecta.
But before Boston could pull off another comeback win, it would take a game-saving catch by Coco Crisp to enable the Sox to be within striking distance for such a victory.
J.C. Romero had come on in relief of Tavarez in the 6th and escaped further damage by inducing a groundout with two men on base. To begin the 7th, however, he allowed a double to Lofton and a walk to Teixeira before giving way to Joel Uh-oh Pineiro, and quickly all hope semed lost.
When Pineiro got Sosa to strike out for the second out of the inning things got a little brighter, and then when Frankie Cat sliced a ball to right center that looked as if it would score two runs, Crisp made a play that would light a flame under the whole Boston team.
As the ball curved away from center field, Coco ran in full sprint mode and once again hurtled himself parallel to the turf, fully extended, and snared the ball off the turf for another game-altering CoCoCatch (my trademark is still pending) that seemed to breath new life into the team. How many of these things is this guy gonna make?!
Boston immediately capitalized on the energizing outfield play. Youk led off the 8th with his second infield single of the game. He took second base as Manny fanned, then chugged home with the tying run on Drew's clutch single to right. Lowell followed with an equally clutch hit to left to score Drew with the go-ahead run, and when Dustin Pedroia homered off of Eric Gagne for an insurance run in the 9th, it looked like this win was in the bag.
That is until Boston's own Japanese reliever, Hideki Okajima, tried to give the game away. Unable to utilize Papelbon since he had pitched two days in a row, Okajima got the call to close it out, and with a 2-run lead and Oki having allowed just 2 runs all year, the outcome seemed a foregone conclusion.
Three hits and a run later Red Sox nation was sweating bullets as the tying run was on base and Sammy Sosa was at the plate.
Fortunately Oki got Sosa to fly out to (appropriately) Coco to end the game and that put a cap on a wild weekend series in the American Southwest.
Now it's back home for a Memorial Day meeting with the red-hot Indians and the return of old friend Trot Nixon.
NOTES:
- Ortiz had the day off, with Youk taking his place in the lineup and Hinske assuming the DH duties.
- It was the Sox first sweep in Texas since 1973
- Youk's 3rd inning infield bleeder extended his streak to 19 games and his second infield hit in the 8th extended his run to 7 consecutive multi-hit games
- Converserly Drew's 4th inning single ended his 0-17 slide, and with the two hits he raised his average to .234; it was just Drew's 1st multi-hit game since May 10th.
- Coco had two hits to go along with his spectacular grab, including his 4th bunt single of the year in the 3rd
- After getting lit up in his last three starts, Loe had a pretty decent outing (6IP, 7H, 3ER, BB, Ks)
- Lowell made his 9th error of the season on a grounder by Michael Young in the 3rd
- One day after tallying 4 hits, Manny went hitless (0-3), but did draw a walk
- After going more than 20 innings without giving up a run, Okajima has allowed two runs in his last three innings
- Five Sox had 2 hits apiece: Coco, Youk, Drew, Lowell and Pedroia
- Pineiro had his finest outing in a Boston uni, earning the win with 1 2/3 innings of no-hit, 3-strikeout ball. Finally!
QUOTES:
"Getting a big hit in a key situation like that is always nice. I hope things are coming around. I'm trying to grind out good at-bats and see what happens."--Drew on getting the gorilla off his back
RECORD: 34-15"The key was Coco's play. He picked me up, picked us all up. It gave us the momentum. When I first looked at it, there was nobody close to that. But that was a big catch, the biggest key to the game."--Pineiro summing up the impact of another CoCoCatch
AL EAST: 11.5 up on BAL
UP NEXT: Mon vs. CLE 7P Fenway
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