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Baseball Today: Wednesday, Septemeber 26 »
September 25, 2007
BOSTON -- With the postseason looming, it was a good night for the Red Sox to begin putting all the pieces together in preparation for the playoffs.
And so they did.
Curt Schilling, it what may be his final start of the regular season, allowed only one run over six efficient innings and staked his claim for the No. 2 spot in the rotation behind Josh Beckett. Manny Ramirez returned to the lineup and went 1-for-2 with a walk in his five-inning appearance, the first time he's played since straining his right oblique muscle on August 28 in New York. Kevin Youkilis, sidelined since being hit by a Chien-Ming Wang pitch on Sept. 16, also got back in action, coming in as a pinch-hitter for Eric Hinske in the fifth and going 0-for-2.
That was just the top of the good news for the Sox in their 7-3 victory over Oakland, who also got a three-hit performance from J.D. Drew, two RBI from Jacoby Ellsbury, the 33rd home run of the season by David Ortiz and airtight relief from Manny Delcarmen, Eric Gagne and Jonathan Papelbon.
The victory dropped the Sox' magic number for clinching the A.L. East to four. The Yankees' game at Tampa Bay was tied in the eighth inning when the Sox game ended; if New York lost, the number would go down to three.
The Sox also had a chance to pick up some ground on Los Angeles of Anaheim in the race for the A.L.'s best record, as the Angels were losing to the Rangers when the Boston game ended.
Cleveland, the other team involved in the race for the best record, has a late game at Seattle.
The A's actually drew first blood with a first-inning home run by Daric Barton. The Sox, though, tied it in the bottom of the first on a single by Ramirez -- who was batting second to maximize his number of at-bats before being lifted in mid-game -- a walk to Ortiz and a double by Mike Lowell.
Oakland starter Chad Gaudin matched zeroes with Schilling from then until the fifth, when he imploded. He walked four straight batters -- Ramirez, Ortiz, Lowell and Drew -- without recording an out, forcing in the go-ahead run. Ex-Sox left-hander Lenny DiNardo came on in relief and was touched for a sacrifice fly by Ellsbury, making it 3-1.
Schilling was impressive as he put down the A's with 86 pitches over six innings, allowing six hits and no walks with six strikeouts. He gave way to Delcarmen, who pitched a scoreless seventh, and the Sox increased the lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the inning on a two-out single by Drew, a walk to Jason Varitek and an RBI single to left by Ellsbury.
Gagne came on in the eighth and handed it over to Papelbon with two runners on and two outs. Papelbon retired Mark Ellis on one pitch, a pop to shortstop, and the Sox broke it open in the bottom of the eighth. Lugo walked, went to third on a hit-and-run single by Dustin Pedroia and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bobby Kielty. Ortiz then put the exclamation point on the night with a two-run homer to right.
With the game decided, manager Terry Francona rested Papelbon and brought in Corey to close things out in the ninth. Corey was touched for an RBI double by Jack Hannahan and a sacrifice fly by Kurt Suzuki.
See the box score here and the game play-by-play here.
Posted by Art Martone 
at 10:30 PM | Permalink
