August 11, 2008
Sox Drop Finale to Chicago in 11th
Chicago 5, Boston 4 (11)
In his last fourteen appearances dating back to the beginning of July, Manny Delcarmen has posted an ERA of 6.75. His struggles forced GM Theo Epstein to acquire Brian Wilson from the Giants as insurance for Jonathan Papelbon. And now, with the emergence of Justin Masterson (6 app., 19 IP, 1.89 ERA, 0.84 WHIP), Delcarmen's role looks to be further marginalized.
After retiring Jermaine Dye to lead off the eleventh inning, Delcarmen surrendered the game winning run on a solo home run by Alexis Ramirez, costing the Sox a chance of sweeping the White Sox in the four game series.
After going ahead by three runs, the Sox and Daisuke Matsuzaka wasted away the lead. Coco Crisp, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz had RBI singles in the third to put the Sox ahead.
In the fourth, the White Sox started to chip away at the lead. A.J. Pierzynski led off the inning with a base on balls and scored on a Paul Konerko double against Matsuzaka. Dany Richar followed with a single to left to move Konerko to third and Alexis Ramirez single to pull the White Sox within one.
A 1-2-3 fifth inning was marred for the Sox when Dustin Pedroia went down with an apparent shoulder injury after fielding a line drive up the middle.
In the sixth, Matsuzaka coughed up the lead when, with two outs, the White Sox strung together a string of three singles to go ahead by one. Jermaine Dye reached with two outs, and came around on a single by Ramirez. After a passed ball moved Ramirez into scoring position, Joe Crede lined a first pitch fastball back up the middle give the White Sox their first lead of the game. Masterson replaced Matsuzaka and retired Orlando Cabrera to end the inning.
In the seventh, Manny Ramirez hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game up for the Sox as Masterson held the White Sox in check for four and a third hitless innings before giving way to Delcarmen in the eleventh.
The Sox now head home to Fenway, after a successful 5-2 road trip.
W: Jenks (3-4) L: Delcarmen (5-4)
Player of the Game: Alexis Ramirez (3-5, HR (8), 3 RBIs)
Around the League:
...Mil LF Ryan Braun and TB CF Rocco Baldelli earned Player of the Week honors...Chicago DH Jim Thome hit his 2,000 career hits...