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Off DL, Beckett And Lowell Lead Sox Over Texas… Boston Closes Gap On Tampa Bay
By Administrator | September 6, 2008
This is the time of year pitchers often start to wear down as the heat of August takes its toll and the season draws to an end. It’s the time of year when a little rest can do a pitcher a world of good.
Red Sox ace Josh Beckett has missed the least three weeks after reportedly sleeping (awkwardly) on his right shoulder and then surrendering eight runs in 2 1/3 innings against Toronto (on August 17th). The forced R&R seems to have done him a world of good.
The rejuvenated righty returned to Texas last night and gave his ballclub an outstanding outing — pitching five innings of shutout ball in the Red Sox 8-1 win in Arlington. He allowed only four singles, did not walk a batter, and struck out seven.
It seemed a foregone conclusion that he would pitch well against the Rangers last night. The righty from Spring, TX, was activated from the DL just before the game… over the last four years, the Sox ace has posted a record of 4-1 in his first start after returning from injury.
In his post-game comments, he focused more on his health than he did his performance: “I came out of the game healthy, that’s what we were looking for… I thought about it before the game more than anything. It’s one of those deals, you’ve got to go out and push through it”.
Third baseman Mike Lowell was also activated from the disabled list prior to the game… he celebrated with three hits, including his fifteenth home run, and four rbi. After the game, he admitted to being a little nervous in his first at-bat since August 12th: “It definitely gives me a boost… I didn’t really think I would be totally lost, but there’s a certain amount of uncertainty just because you haven’t seen live pitching in three weeks”.
Manny Delcarmen, Justin Masterson and Hideki Okajima finished the game for the Red Sox… the staff missed out on its major-league-best fourteenth shutout when Nelson Cruz hit a two-out RBI single off Okajima in the ninth.
Rangers starter Kevin Millwood allowed seven runs (six earned) on nine hits in six innings.
The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Lowell’s home run. They then blew the game open with a four-run fourth inning as both Lowell and Coco Crisp (three hits, three rbi) provided two-run singles. Coco and Jacoby Ellsbury then hit back-to-back rbi-triples in the sixth inning to extend the Boston lead to seven runs. Lowell ripped an rbi-double into center field in the ninth inning to finish the Red Sox scoring.
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AL batting leader Dustin Pedroia extended his hitting streak to nine games with a double in the first inning… he finished 1-for-4, with a walk, and saw his league-leading average fall a point to .332.
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Crisp is 21-for-46 his last 13 games.
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The Sox are now 8-0 against the Rangers this season, outscoring them 75-36.
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Tim Wakefield will make his 500th career appearance for the Red Sox when he starts tonight’s game… but he hasnt enjoyed his time in Texas — over the last three years he is 2-3, 6.03, in Arlington.
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The Red Sox won their fourth straight game to move within 2 1/2 games of AL East-leading Tampa Bay, a 6-4 loser at Toronto. They remained 5 1/2 games ahead of Minnesota in the wild-card race.
Topics: Sox Games, Sox Players |
