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Pitching Was Brutal In Last Night’s Loss In Houston
By Administrator | June 29, 2008
Red Sox pitchers took the day off yesterday…
Those who didn’t pitch watched the debacle from the dugout or the bullpen, while those who did pitch brought buckets of gasoline to the fire. When it was over, the Red Sox had blown leads of 4-0 and 9-6 in suffering a forgetable 11-10 defeat to Houston.
Lance Berkman slaps a two-run double down the left field line in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Astros an 11-9 lead against Manny Delcarmen and the Red Sox…
The main culprits were two guys you would have least expected to meltdown. Jon Lester entered the game having won three of his last four outings (to go along with a no decision) and sporting the best ERA among the team’s starting pitchers (3.13). He had allowed a GRAND TOTAL of five earned runs in June (four appearances totaling 27 1/3 IP) without surrendering a home run. Manny Delcarmen hadn’t allowed a run in his last eleven appearances, spanning a total of 13 2/3 innings.
They BOTH were BRUTAL in last night’s game.
But they weren’t alone in their futility. Relievers David Aardsma and Craig Hansen, who bridged the gap from Lester to Delcarmen, weren’t much better… Aardsma was charged with one earned run (it should have been two) and Hansen allowed both inherited runners (Aardsma’s) to score.
The Red Sox scored four runs in the third inning, all with two out, off Houston starter Brandon Backe. Dustin Pedroia singled and J.D. Drew walked to set the stage for the struggling Manny Ramirez, who doubled to give Boston a 2-0 lead. Mike Lowell followed with an RBI double of his own to make the score 3-0… he then scored on Kevin Youkilis’ rbi-single to right to extend the lead to four runs.
Lester hadn’t given up more than four runs in a game all season… the Astros scored five runs against him in the bottom of the third inning last night. He started the inning by hitting his opposite number (Backe) on the foot with a pitch. Michael Bourn beat out a bunt to put runners at first and second bases. Lester retired Hunter Pence on a groundout and Lance Berkman on a strikeout to come within an out of escaping the inning unscathed, but Carlos Lee singled to center field to cut the deficit in half.
Miguel Tejada then hit a grounder back through the box which deflected off Lester’s foot for a single. Lester bent over in pain and took a couple of warm-up tosses under the watchful eye of trainer Paul Lessard and manager Terry Francona before continuing his outing. Former Red Sox 2B Mark Loretta hit Lester’s next pitch into the left-field grandstands to give Houston a 5-4 lead.
Lee hit his eighteenth home run of the season in the fifth inning to extend the Astros lead to a pair… but the Red Sox came back with five runs of their own in the next half-inning to take a 9-6 lead.
Julio Lugo started the inning with a walk and came around to score on Jacoby Ellsbury’s rbi-triple. At that point, Houston manager Cecil Cooper (yes, THAT Cecil Cooper) pulled starter Backe in favor of Geoff Geary. The Astros reliever gave up successive singles to Pedroia (rbi) and Drew before walking Ramirez to load the bases. Lowell hit a sacrifice fly to give the Sox the lead… Youk then doubled to provide two insurance runs (he was thrown out trying to go to third base on the play).
The Astros scored twice in the eighth inning to get within a run. Aardsma walked Michael Bourne and surrendered a single to Hunter Pence to start the inning. Francona brought Hansen into the game to end the threat, but he allowed an rbi-single to Lance Berkman and then unleashed a run-scoring wild pitch before settling down to retire the next three batters.
Delcarmen was brought into the game in the bottom of the eighth inning to protect the 9-8 lead, but he hadn’t even recorded an out when Ty Wiggington hit a 3-2 pitch into the right field grandstands to tie the ballgame. Later in the inning, with two on and two out, Delcarmen left a changeup over the middle of the plate that Berkman slapped down the left field line for a two-run double.
Houston-11, Boston-9.
Mike Lowell homered off Jose Valverde in the top of the ninth to get the Sox close, but the Astros closer then struck out both Youkilis and Jason Varitek to end the game.
Dustin Pedroia led the Sox offense with four hits and an rbi… Kevin Youkilis had two hits and three rbi… and Manny Ramirez added a two-run double.
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Before he triggered the Houston comeback, Berkman struck out three times… it was the third time this season he struck out thrice in one game.
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Boston’s pitchers are 0-for-22 with 16 strikeouts at the plate in interleague play.
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Coco Crisp began serving his five-game suspension yesterday.
Topics: Sox Games, Sox Players |
