July 22, 2008
Sox Lose Paps, Overcome Beltre Cycle for Win Over M's
Boston 7, Seattle 6
Clay Buchholz labored through five innings of work, surrendering five runs on six hits, but five Sox relievers combined to work four shutouts innings out of the bullpen for the Sox to secure the victory.
The Sox opened the scoring on the first when Coco Crisp singled to lead off the game. The speedy centerfield advanced to third when, while attempting to steal second, Crisp beat the throw from Jeff Clement, which bounced in front of second baseman Jeff Cirillo and into centerfield for the one base error. Kevin Youkilis followed with a grounder to short that Adrian Beltre ranged far to his left to field the ball, but threw away from the throw to first to allow Crisp to score easily from first.
In the second, the Sox added two more runs off of Seattle starter Jarrod Washburn. With one out, J.D. Drew doubled to center and Dustin Pedroia followed with a RBI-triple, his third of the year. After striking out Jason Varitek, Washburn surrendered a single to Julio Lugo to put the Sox ahead by three.
In the bottom of the second, Beltre led off with a triple down the right field line off of Buchholz, the first of his four hits on the night. Beltre would score one batter later on a Jeff Clement groundout. Beltre would hit a solo home run in the fourth to cut the Sox lead down to just one run.
In the sixth, the Sox pulled ahead for good when David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez went back-to-back off Washburn to push the Boston lead to four. After Youkilis led off the inning with a four pitch walk, Ortiz sent a 1-1 pitch over the wall in left field for his team leading 23rd home run of the season. Ramirez, marred in a 18 game drought, put his 17th long ball of the season into the centerfield stands to chase Washburn from the game. Since his last home run on June 27th against Houston, Ramirez's batting average has dropped twenty-eight points and his OPS has dropped from 1.002 to .913.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Mariners battled back as they seem to have done all season against the Sox. After a led off double by Ichiro, Clay Buchholz came unglued, plunking Raul Ibanez with a first-pitch fast ball before Beltre hit a RBI-double to right-center to end Clay's night after five plus innings. Javier Lopez entered, striking out Jeff Clement before Mike Sweeney and Ryan Raburn hit a pair singles to put the M's down by one. Facing Yuniesky Betancourt with the tying run on second, Lopez induced an inning-ending double play to shut the door on the rally.
In the 8th, Adrian Beltre finished off the cycle with a single off Manny Delcarmen and advanced to second on a single by Jeff Clement, but pinch hitter Jose Vidro and Raburn couldn't deliver against Hideki Okajima, as the Mariners left the tying run in scoring position.
As he has all season, manager Terry Francona turned to his All Star closer Jonathan Papelbon to shut the door on the Mariners. Pinch hitter Kenji Johjima grounded out to short stop Julio Lugo for the first out, but it was a Tony Gwyyn, Jr. ground out that proved troubling. Covering first base for Youkilis, Papelbon stumbled as the took the throw from the first baseman and collided with Gwynn, ending up on the ground grimacing in pain.
Closer Jonathan Papelbon reacts to retired Jojhima one batter before before being injured against the Mariners
Lee Gronkiewicz relieved Papelbon and closed the door on Ryan Klesko to save the win for Buchholz, but the news afterwards wasn't good.
Before the team even left the ballpark, general manager Theo Esptein had issued a press release announcing that Papelbon was bound for the disabled list with what the team was called a stained shoulder. Manager Terry Francona did not make himself available for comment after the game.
W: Buchholz (9-4) L: Washburn (5-11) SV: Gronkiewicz (3)
Player of the Game: Adrien Beltre (4-4, 2B, 3B, HR (10), 2 Rs, 2 RBIs)
Around the League:
...Boston purchased the contract of SP Justin Masterson from Pawtucket...