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Game Story: Toledo 12, Pawtucket 2 »
July 25, 2007
CLEVELAND _ It was a night of missed opportunities for the Boston Red Sox.
It was also a what-you-can-do-I-can-do-better situation as the Cleveland Indians received a solid pitching performance from starter Fausto Carmona en route to a 1-0 victory to snap the Red Sox’ five-game winning streak last night at Jacobs Field.
The young right-hander worked eight scoreless innings, allowing four hits with six strikeouts as the Indians responded from a 1-0 loss against Boston on Tuesday. As effective as Carmona was, Red Sox starter Josh Beckett was equally impressive despite allowing a solo homer to the Indians’ Franklin Gutierrez in the third inning that proved to be the game-winning run.
After Gutierrez absolutely crushed a solo homer to give Cleveland a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning, Beckett responded and retired the next 14 batters in a row before Trot Nixon singled in the eighth for Cleveland’s fourth hit of the game.
Meanwhile, Carmona kept the Sox’ bats at bay until Coco Crisp snapped the 23-year-old’s bid for a no-hitter with an infield single in the sixth inning. Crisp hit a hard grounder up the middle that Indians shortstop Jhonny Peralta ranged to his left and snared, but because of the Crisp’s speed Peralta had to rush the throw and didn’t get it there on time.
With one out and Dustin Pedroia at the plate, Crisp took off for second and was able to stay out of the possible double play when Pedroia grounded out to third. Ortiz, who struck out his first two times up, hit a hard ground ball to the right side for a single. Cleveland had the shift on, so Crisp attempted to score from second for the would-be tying run, but Indians second baseman Josh Barfield got his throw to the plate in time for the third out of the inning.
Things didn’t get any easier for the Red Sox.
Jason Varitek led off the eighth with a single, Boston’s third hit of the game, before Eric Hinske lined out to center. Alex Cora followed and appeared to have missed a hit-and-run sign as Varitek took off for second. When the batter didn’t swing, Varitek attempted to retreat to first but was caught 2-6-3.
With two outs, Cora provided an infield single and was replaced with speedy pinch-runner Julio Lugo, who originally was given the night off. With Crisp at the plate, Lugo was thrown out attempting to steal second to end the inning.
The Indians' Joe Borowski earned the save.
Posted by Joe McDonald 
at 9:44 PM | Permalink
