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July 20, 2007
BOSTON - A game that began ominously for the Red Sox last night eventually turned in their favor and resulted in a 10-3 blowout win over the Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox carried a three-game losing streak into the contest and with ace pitcher Josh Beckett on the mound needed a victory as badly as they had in months. After getting jobbed out of a 3-run home run by J.D. Drew in the first inning, Boston recovered and scored four runs in the fifth inning and five more in the eighth to sail to the win.
Beckett left after allowing three runs over six innings (114 pitches) and turned the ball over to the Sox’ red-hot bullpen. Mike Timlin, Hideki Okajima and Joel Pineiro combined to shut out the White Sox over the final three frames and preserve the victory for Beckett, who improved to 13-3.
``This is a team that’s going to go on feeling,’’ said Julio Lugo, who went 3-for-4 including a grand slam homer in the eighth inning. ``Today was a good sign, good pitching, good hitting. That’s the way we have to play.’’
The win, coupled with the Yankees’ loss to Tampa Bay, extends Boston’s lead in the A.L. East to eight games.
The fates seemed stacked against the Sox after a bizarre play in the first inning. With David Ortiz on second base and Manny Ramirez at first, Drew lined a Jose Contreras pitch high to left-center. The ball clearly struck the wire ledge that sits just below the Monster Seats but the umpires didn’t signal home run. The White Sox threw home and cut down Ramirez who wasn’t running hard because he thought he saw the ball go out for a homer. Ortiz scored the only run on the play but Terry Francona shot out of the dugout and vehemently argued the call. He was eventually ejected by third base umpire Tim McClelland, who was booed mercilessly the rest of the game by the fans.
Drew, incidentally, stroked another Wall double in the eighth inning. Entering the game, he had just three hits off the Monster all season.
``I’ve been talking ad nausea about getting a two-out hit and to take two runs off the board is not easy to take,’’ said Francona. ``I’m very thankful we came back and played a great game after that.’’
Chicago seemed to receive a rush off the lucky break and hit Beckett up for three runs in the third when Jim Thome smacked a 3-run homer to left field. It was Thome’s 20th homer at Fenway in his career, the most by any active player.
Trailing 3-1 entering the fifth, the Red Sox benefited in a major way from some questionable White Sox strategy. Boston’s leadoff man, Jason Varitek, walked. With Contreras pitching to Eric Hinske (.196 average), Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen chose to align his defense in an Ortiz-line shift for some unknown reason. Hinske then wisely set down a chopping bunt to where third baseman Josh Fields should have been but wasn’t and cruised to first with a base hit.
With Francona back in the clubhouse, bench coach Brad Mills stayed with the small ball routine and Julio Lugo laid down a bunt that he beat out when Contreras’ throw to first sailed a bit high. The two bunts loaded the bases with none out and Coco Crisp came through by slapping a bases-clearing triple past Paul Konerko and into the right-field corner.
Guillen had his defense back in the shift when Ortiz came to the plate with one out. Ortiz grounded hard towards the first base bag but Konerko failed to cover the line and the ball scooted into right field to allow Crisp to sail home with the fourth run of the inning.
``He said his heart was racing. He’d never (bunted) before,’’ Crisp said of Hinske’s bunt. ``We came up with a big inning when we needed it.’’
With a 5-3 lead, Beckett retired the Sox in order in the sixth and then gave way to the bullpen. Timlin and Okajima set the next six White Sox down easily and Boston was prepared to send Jonathan Papelbon out for the ninth. But the Red Sox weren’t done scoring. The Sox loaded the bases off Contreras (5-12) and Lugo blasted a grand slam high over the Green Monster in left for a 10-3 lead. The hit set Papelbon down and Pineiro came on and ended things quietly in the ninth.
-----KEVIN McNAMARA
Posted by Thom Cahir 
at 10:47 PM to McNamara
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