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“The Force” Carries Red Sox In Extra Innings In Toronto, 6-5
By Administrator | August 24, 2008
Third baseman Jed Lowrie hit an eleventh inning home run at The Rogers Centre to lift the Red Sox to a 6-5 win over the Blue Jays this afternoon, giving the Sox a victory in the rubber game of the three game set in Toronto.
“Jedi”, as he is often referred to by friends and teammates, had been hitless in four at-bats entering extra innings… but, in the eleventh inning, he turned on a 1-1 fastball from reliever Brandon League and sent it over the wall in right field to make a winner of closer Jonathan Papelbon. Pappy provided two innings of perfect relief to win his fifth game of the season while lowering his earned run average to 1.75. Manny Delcarmen earned his first save by recording the final three outs.
League had not allowed a run in twelve consecutive outings, so it was a fortuitous time for Lowrie to hit just his second home run of the season. Of Lowrie, manager Terry Francona said: “He continues to impact the game and we’ll take it. We need it. He’s stepped in and been a valuable member of our ballclub”.
Toronto took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Vernon Wells’ thirteenth home run of the season, a two-run shot to left field off Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Boston took the lead in the third inning when Toronto starter AJ Burnett walked the number eight and nine batters in the Red Sox batting order… second baseman Dustin Pedroia made him pay by hitting a three-run home run (#14). But the Sox weren’t done quite yet — David Ortiz followed with a double down the right field line and Kevin Youkilis lined a single into center field to give Boston a 4-2 lead.
But Dice-K couldn’t hold the lead.
Lyle Overbay homered (#11) in the bottom of the fourth inning to pull Toronto to within a run. In the sixth inning, Alex Rios singled, Wells ripped a run-scoring double to the base of the wall in left-center field, Matt Stairs walked and Rod Barajas grounded an rbi-double down the left field line to give the Jays a 5-4 lead (Stairs was thrown out at home on a nice relay throw from Lowrie)
Coco Crisp tied the game when he led off the next half-inning with a home run that cleared the wall in right-center field by about two feet.
The relief pitchers took over and kept additional runs off the scoreboard until Lowrie’s heroics in the eleventh inning. For the Red Sox, Justin Masterson, Hideki Okajima, Pappy and Manny pitched five innings of one-hit ball… for Toronto, Scott Downs and BJ Ryan threw three innings of scoreless ball before League entered the game.
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The Red Sox corner outfielders each made excellent defensive plays. Jacoby Ellsbury (fourth inning) and Jason Bay (tenth inning) each made running catches against the wall. Ellsbury collided with the wall (actually, a chain-link fence) to take an extra-base hit away from Adam Lind… he needed a few minutes after his spectacular grab to clear the cobwebs and re-insert a contact lens.
Ellsbury had several cuts around his eye and on his shoulder as a result of the collosion… afterwards, Lowrie said Ellsbury “looked like he just got done with a 15-round fight”.
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The Sox will have an off-day tomorrow in NYC. Tim Wakefield is expected to be activated in time to start Tuesday’s game in place of Josh Beckett.
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David Pauley was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket when RHP David Aardsma (groin) was placed on the 15-day DL.
Topics: Sox Games, Sox Players |
