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June 7, 2007
OAKLAND – The Red Sox’ Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis outsmarted themselves in the eighth inning.
With Youkilis on first and one out, the Athletics put the shift on Ortiz, sending third baseman Eric Chavez over to shortstop, shading the second-base bag, and pulling shortstop Marco Scutaro over on the right-field side of the base.
Ortiz faked a bunt on the first pitch from left-hander Ron Flores and took it for a ball. He bunted the second pitch, but right out in front of the plate, where it was pounced on by catcher Jason Kendall.
Kendall threw to second base, where Chavez was moving to cover the base. But he messed up the footwork and missed the bag as the throw sailed a bit to the right-field side of the base.
Youkilis slid in safely and, realizing no one was covering third base because of the shift, he popped up quickly and headed for third. But Scutaro hadn’t fallen asleep. He also started racing to third, and he had a step or two on Youkilis.
Chavez threw to Scutaro who tagged out Youkilis about 20 feet from the third for the rally-killing out.
“I was thinking about scoring more runs,” said Ortiz of his decision to bunt. “I thought if I get on we have first and second and Manny up.”
He was surprised to see Youkilis, not known for having blazing speed, try for third.
“I asked him, ‘What were you thinking, that you’re Coco Crisp?” joked Ortiz, referring to the Sox’ fastest runner.
Ortiz stuck to his more prominent role as a power hitter in the first, delivering the only run of the game, on a homer to right off Joe Blanton on a 3-and-2 pitch.
“It was a changeup he left up,” said Ortiz, who hit two home runs in the series after having gone 19 games without a homer.
Ramirez only went 1 for 4 yesterday, but rockets have been leaving his bat the last two weeks or so.
He scalded a single to center in his first at-bat and was retired on a sizzling liner to right in his second at-bat. Ramirez is batting .431 (22 for 51) over his last 14 games with eight doubles and one triple over that stretch. Surprisingly, despite his obvious comfort at the plate, he has not hit a homer in this stretch and is stuck on only seven over his first 219 at-bats this season.
Mike Lowell was given an extra out in his second-inning at-bat when Kendall lost a battle with the bright sun and dropped the Sox’ third baseman’s foul popup behind the plate. But Lowell wasn’t able to take advantage of it. He grounded out to third.
It was not the best of series at the plate for Lowell. He went 0 for 4 yesterday, and was just 1 for 13 in the series, dropping his average from .333 to .317.
Francona said when this trip began that he was planning to give every player a rest here and there.
Yesterday it was Dustin Pedroia's turn to sit out. The second baseman was replaced by Alex Cora in the starting lineup.
“I know he (Pedroia) is young, but he hits a lot (extra batting practice) and I think this helps. Playing AC always seems to help us win, so this just makes sense to me,” said Francona before the game.
Pedroia, whose hitting streak came to an end at 14 games when he went 0 for 1 on Tuesday night, was hitless in four at-bats Wednesday night. He's batting .319.
Beau Mills, son of Boston bench coach Brad Mills, was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the first round of the first-year player draft. Beau was the 13th pick overall . . . The victory snapped the Sox’ seven-game losing streak in Oakland . . . Boston will open a three-game series in Arizona against the Diamondbacks tonight. The most intriguing pitching matchup will be Sunday, when Daisuke Matsuzaka opposes Randy Johnson.
--STEVEN KRASNER
Posted by Corey Bourassa 
at 6:47 PM | Permalink
