« Photo: You've never seen this at Fenway
Main
Sox option Moss to Pawtucket »
March 26, 2008
BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer
TOKYO -- It began in a familiar way -- an early deficit resulting from a struggling starter.
But this one did not have the same happy ending for the Red Sox that Tuesday's opener did. Handcuffed by Oakland A's starter Rich Harden, the Sox' offense was checked on five hits and fell to the A's, 5-1, Wednesday for a split of their season-opening series at the Tokyo Dome.
The two teams will resume their series next Tuesday in Oakland.
Boston got five innings of quality relief from four different relievers, but the four runs the A's managed off Jon Lester were enough to stand up.
The Sox' lone run came on a majestic solo shot from Manny Ramirez in the sixth, giving him five RBI for the first two games.
The rest of the heart of the Sox lineup, however, was feeble. David Ortiz was 0-for-3, Mike Lowell had two singles and Brandon Moss, in his second inning of fill-in duty for J.D. Drew, couldn't continue the magic, fanning in three plate appearances.
Even Ramirez produced nothing beyond his homer, striking out three times. He wasn't alone -- the Sox went down swinging (or looking) a total of 13 times.
Of the Sox' five hits, three were singles.
If the Sox thought that getting Harden out of the game after six was going to open the offensive spigot, they were wrong.
In the eighth, an error by Bobby Crosby on a sharp one-hopper by Kevin Youkilis gave the Sox some hope and Youkilis moved into scoring position on a wild pitch.
But former Sox reliever Keith Foulke retired Ortiz on a flyout to right and then slipped a called third strike on the outside corner past Ramirez for the final out.
In the seventh, Santiago Casilla had allowed a two-out double into the right field corner by Coco Crisp, but Crisp was stranded there when Julio Lugo grounded meekly to short.
Oakland added a solo run in the eighth off Bryan Corey. A two-out double by Kurt Suzuki and a single to center from Mike Fiorentino produced a cushion that the A's wouldn't need.
Yet another former Sox reliever, Alan Embree, turned back the Sox in the ninth. A leadoff single from Lowell was wiped out when pinch-hitter Sean Casey rolled into a double-play. Jason Varitek then fanned for the final out.
Blanked for the first five innings by Harden, the Sox finally showed some life in the sixth as Ramirez drove a deep drive into the seats in left for his first homer of the season and career shot No. 491.
Ramirez stood and admired his handy work, watching the ball soar and land before he began his home-run trot.
When Lowell followed with a long flyout to left, that was end of the night for Harden, but he had stifled the Sox offense, limiting them to a single run over six innings while recording nine strikeouts.
Like Daisuke Matsuzaka the night before, Lester had some long innings in the early going.
A one-out double by Crosby in the second and a two-out walk to Suzuki gave the A's the first scoring threat of the night and former Wheaton College standout Chris Denorfia cashed in, singling to right to deliver Crosby.
Lester limited the damage by catching Travis Buck looking at a called third strike. But the A's went right back to work against him in the third.
A leadoff walk to Mark Ellis and a one-out single from Mike Sweeney set the stage for Brown, who ran into an out representing the potential tying run in the ninth inning Tuesday night.
This time, Brown more than made up for his baserunning gaffe, taking Lester out to left with a booming three-run homer.
Lester then settled down, retiring the side in order in the fourth, but his struggles in the second and third came back to cut his night short. After four, having thrown 83 pitches -- just 47 of them strikes -- Lester was through.
The Sox got little done off Harden in the early innings, held hitless through the first three.
The hard-throwing A's starter, limited to just 13 starts over the previous two seasons, had some command problems, but the Sox were unable to capitalize.
He fanned two in the first, two in the second and one in the third. He issued a one-out walk to Julio Lugo in the third and a two-out pass to Dustin Pedroia in the same inning, but got Ortiz to pop to third for the final out, stranding two.
Not until Lowell singled sharply to left with one down in the fourth did the Sox collect their first
hit.
Posted by Sean McAdam 
at 9:00 AM | Permalink
