RESULT – WIN 6-5 (in 11 innings)
Well, Stephen Drew, that’s one way to get the fans on your side. Drew finally had himself a great night in a Red Sox uniform. He’s been showing signs lately hitting at a .300 clip the last 10 games but after last nights performance, Red Sox Nation will start noticing. Drew went 4 for 5 and had the game winning hit on Monday night.
Stephen Drew ended Monday night’s late thriller at Fenway Park
How about, Clayton Mortensen who came in and pitched 2 and 1/3 shutout innings on no notice in the ninth inning when Joel Hanrahan had to come out of the came with a forearm strain. Mortensen was fresh off Sunday’s walk-off loss to the Rangers and came in on in a high pressure situation. Hanrahan had already let up a home run to tie the game at 5 but Clayton came in and slammed the door closed.
Then you had Saltalamacchia who had to be tired after catching 11 innings hustling down the line to beat out a two-out infield hit to start the winning rally in the 11th.
Will Middlebrooks who is in a terrible slump right now, belted a big single to left center that moved Salty into scoring position. Drew then sent them home happy with the double to win the game.
The last hero on the night has to be Dustin Pedroia who FINALLY connected for his first home run of the season. It couldn’t have come at any better time as he connected in the eighth inning to snap the 4-4 tie and put the Sox up 5-4. Pedey had gone 184 straight at bats without a homerun.
It all comes back to Stephen Drew though. Not only did he get the game winning hit but he also had a solo home run in the seventh that tied the game at 4 apiece. Drew used all fields last night, something his brother often did at Fenway Park Fenway Park
David Ortiz extended his hitting streak to 26 games by doubling in the eighth but he also grounded into 2 rally killing double plays his first two at bats. Grounding into double plays was a theme on the night as the Sox had 4 of them. Two from Ortiz, and one each from Pedroia and Ellsbury. The Sox were only 3 for 12 on the night with runners in scoring position.
Shane Victorino had himself a really good night as well going 3 for 5, belting his first home run of the season. Pedroia also went 3 for 5 and Jarrod Saltalamacchia went 2 for 4 with a walk. Every Sox starter had a hit as they connected for 17 on the game.
The heroics on the night helped save Clay Buchholz who didn’t have a great outing. There was some controversy regarding Buchholz’s last outing where some Blue Jays announcers accused him of throwing spitballs. I didn’t comment here on the blog simply because it wasn’t worth commenting about. The opposing manager, players or umpires on the night said nothing about Buchholz and it was just them trying to get into the head of a young pitcher.
Unfortunately it seemed to get to him a bit as Buchholz had his worst inning of the year in the first throwing 36 pitches and giving up 2 runs. Clay is very much about rhythm and steadiness. When you disrupt that flow, you will see a different pitcher out there.
Lucky for us, he settled down and retired 9 straight from the 1st to the 4th when he let up 2 straight doubles giving the Twins a 3-0 lead. But again, Buchholz battled back and grinded out 6 innings of work on the night. He let up 7 hits, 4 runs and 2 walks while striking out 9. Clay wasn’t sharp last night but I like the way he battled out there. What he was doing wasn’t going to be sustainable all season long. There will be bumps in the road but he still put in a solid effort and last night the bats bailed him out.
The bullpen was outstanding last night except for Joel Hanrahan who gave up a solo homerun in the 2/3 of an inning he pitched. He may be hurt as he exited the game with right forearm tightness so I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt last night. Let’s hope it’s not a bad injury as the Sox are already low on arms in the bullpen with Andrew Bailey out with a forearm injury.
Alex Wilson and Andrew Miller pitched a scoreless 7th striking out the side. Miller looked impressive again striking out the 2 batters he faced. Craig Breslow made his season debut with a perfect 9th inning striking out 1. Then Mortensen finished the game strong with 2 and ½ innings of 1 hit ball. He did walk to but was able to work around them.
The Twins have a pretty good lineup with a healthy Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau in the middle of it. Mauer went 2 for 5 and Morneau had a hit and 2 RBI. Josh Willingham went 2 for 4 with an RBI and Brian Dozier went 2 for 6 with an RBI.
Let’s hope the hot hitting by Stephen Drew continues as he’s upped his average to .225 in the last 10 games by batting .333 and has 2 HR and 11 RBI in that span. He also has 2 triples and a double with 5 walks.
The Sox take the field again tonight vs. the Twins with Ryan Dempster (2-2) on the mound opposed by Scott Diamond (2-2. Diamond has been their most consistent starter and is a tough lefty. I’m sure we’ll see a righty heavy lineup tonight with Gomes and Ross getting starts.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP
Stephen Drew. Drew had himself a night to remember and a night that Sox fans will remember as the day they started loving little brother Drew. He went 4 for 5 on the night with 3 RBI including a game tying home run in the seventh and a walk-off game winning double to end it.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
David Ortiz. Big Papi did extend his hitting streak to 26 games with a double in the eighth but also hit into 2 huge rally killing double plays. He’s been so good with runners on this year that it was hard to fathom he didn’t come up with a big hit in those situations. Luckily there were others on the team that bailed him out last night.
PLAY OF THE GAME
The walk-off double in the bottom of the 11th inning by Stephen Drew that hit low off the Green Monster scoreboard. The big two-out RBI double capped a fun night at Fenway.
NEXT
Today, May 7th at Fenway vs. the Twins..
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