G96: Red Sox 8, Mariners 6 (13)

Red Sox  - 003 002 100 000 2 - 8 13  3
Mariners - 010 000 005 000 0 - 6  7  1

Lackey (8-2-1-1-6, 116) pitched 7.2 no-hit innings before Josh Bard lined a clean single to right-center. Seattle's second inning run was unearned.

In the ninth, Manny Delcarmen and Jonathan Papelbon flushed the comfortable lead right down the toilet. MDC faced four batters and got no one out. Bot faced six Mariners, allowing a double and walking two (one intentionally). Boston committed two errors in the inning: Marco Scutaro and Bill Hall (his second E of the game).

Both teams went in order in the 10th and 11th innings. Hideki Okajima escaped a bases loaded/one out jam in the 12th by getting Jose Lopez and Milton Bradley to pop up in the infield on consecutive pitches.

Kevin Youkilis began the top of the 13th with a single. With two outs, Mike Cameron walked and Eric Patterson (who had pinch-hit for Hall in the 11th) lined a double to the gap in left-center. It rolled to the wall, and Boston led 8-6. Ramon Ramirez retired the Mariners in order for the save.

Several hours earlier, the Red Sox had built a nice lead for Lackey on two two-run homers -- by Hall in the third and J.D. Drew in the sixth. David Ortiz also drove in a run in the third and Marco Scutaro bopped a solo dong in the seventh.

Lackey was four outs away from a no-no tonight, but roughly two years ago (July 29, 2008), he went 8.1 innings for the Angels against the Red Sox at Fenway, before Dustin Pedroia broke it up.

Hall, Drew and Scutaro homered to help the Red Sox build a 6-1 lead after seven innings.

The Yankees beat the Royals 10-4, so the win kept Boston 7 GB in the East. The Red Sox moved to 4 GB the idle Rays in the WC.

John Lackey / Ryan Rowland-Smith

Scutaro, SS
McDonald, LF
Ortiz, DH
Youkilis, 1B
Beltre, 3B
Drew, RF
Cameron, CF
Hall, 2B
Cash, C

Jeremy Hermida has been activated and Daniel Nava was optioned to Pawtucket.

Royals/Yankees, 7 PM

July 22:

1939 - Boston Bees catcher Al Lopez drops his second foul pop of the game and an angry fan runs onto the field to punch him. (Unfortunately, I don't know if the fan did punch him.)

1960 - Who is the first player to steal a base in four consecutive decades? That Boston speedster, Ted Williams: 2 in 1939, 14 from 1940-49, 7 from 1950-59, and 1 in 1960. Rickey Henderson will match that in 2000 (he debuted in 1979).

1986 - The Mets beat the Reds 6-3 in 14 innings. For the final five innings, New York manager Davey Johnson shuttles relievers Jesse Orosco and Roger McDowell from the mound to the outfield. The box score lists the final four Mets pitchers as Orosco, McDowell, Orosco, and McDowell. Stuff about that game and pitchers playing the field here and here; McDowell remembers that night.