The Red Sox battled back but did
not have enough magic to win the game in extra innings. The Orioles were able to capitalize on a big
2-out walk and bloop single in the bottom of the 13th inning to take
the first game of the 4 game series 5-4.
Alex Wilson gave up the winning
run in the bottom of the 13th but if you look at his final line, he
actually pitched pretty well. He was
just recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket Thursday morning and thrown into the game
with it tied 4-4 in the bottom of the 11th. He had a perfect 11th and worked
around a two-out double in the 12th.
The 13th started well as he got the first 2 batters of the
inning out but then gave up a walk to Nick Markakis. Adam Jones then followed with a single to get
Markakis to 2nd base. Chris
Davis then won it on a bloop single to left that no one could get to. It was a tough ending to an otherwise good
outing for Wilson who pitched 2 and 2/3 innings giving up 3 hits and struck out
2.
The bullpen was very good on a
night that Felix Doubront couldn’t even get out of the 5th inning. Franklin Morales went 1 and 1/3 innings
giving up only 1 hit and striking out 1.
Andrew Miller was spectacular on the night going 2 innings, allowing no
hits, no runs, walking 2 and striking out 4.
Junichi Tazawa pitched an inning and a third giving up only 1 hit and
Craig Breslow pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up no hits. They did their part keeping the game tied
after their starter couldn’t get a quality start.
Felix Doubront pitched only 4 and
2/3 innings and gave up 7 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), 1 walk and 5
strikeouts. He needed 103 pitches to get
through his outing and continually got into long at-bats with the Oriole
hitters. He started great getting the
first 6 Oriole hitters out with only 22 pitches. In the bottom of the third however, he ran
into trouble and let up 3 runs on 5 hits.
It was all down-hill after that as he labored through the bottom of the
fourth and couldn’t get out of the fifth.
While Felix certainly had his
troubles, the Red Sox offense also is to blame as they didn’t hit all that well
Thursday night.
They went 1 for 7 with runners in
scoring position and truthfully couldn’t get any runners in scoring position
all night. The Orioles bullpen was
lights out against them as they only allowed 3 hits (all off Brain Matusz) in 6
innings while striking out 6. Even the
rookie Orioles starter who has struggled as of late, Kevin Gausman, pitched
pretty well going 5 and 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 6 hits, walking none
and striking out 5. They just couldn’t
string hits together and were stifled all night by the Orioles pitchers.
David Ortiz and Mike Carp hit
back to back homers in the top of the 4th for their only hits on the
night. Mike Carp came in after Mike
Napoli left the game after his first at bat feeling ill. Napoli had
doubled in his only at bat. Shane
Victorino went 1 for 6 but struck out 2 times, once in the top of the 10th
with the go-ahead run on 2nd base.
Dustin Pedroia, Daniel Nava and
Jarrod Saltalamacchia all went 1 for 5 in the loss. Will Middlebrooks went 2 for 5 with a double.
Jacoby Ellsbury went 0 for 5 but
reached on a catcher’s interference and stole his 30th base of the
season. Stephen Drew went 0 for 4 but
did have a big sacrifice fly. Drew is
now down to .218 on the year. Where is
Jose Iglesias again?
The Sox couldn’t pull off some
magic that they had back on Monday vs. the Rays. The bullpen was gassed again and they’ll be
looking for starter Ryan Dempster (4-6, 4.40) to give them a quality start
tonight in the second game of the series.
Dempster had a decent outing last time vs. the Angels going 6 innings
and giving up only 3 runs in a rout. He’ll
have to give them at least 6 and hopefully more on Friday night.
He’ll be opposed by Orioles
starter Chris Tillman (6-2, 3.89) who has been really good this year for the O’s. He’s coming off two really good starts on the
road and looks to keep the Sox bats silent.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Andrew Miller. Miller gave the Sox 2 quality innings of
relief striking out 4 and giving up no runs.
He did walk 2 but worked around both of them. His stuff was downright nasty last night and
you can tell that hitters from both sides of the plate do not feel comfortable
in their against him.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Felix Doubront. Doubront yet again needed a ton of pitches to
get through minimum innings. I think I’ve
had just about enough of Doubront. I don’t
see him as a good pitcher. I think I’m
ready to give Aceves or Morales a full time shot in the rotation with Doubront
relegated to the bullpen or the minors.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Chris Davis’ bloop single in the
bottom of the 13th to win the game for the O’s.
NEXT
Tonight, Friday, June 14th
in 
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