Reds - 010 000 020 000 - 3 10 0 Red Sox - 102 000 000 001 - 4 11 1Grady Sizemore's single - his third hit of the night - banged off the base of the Wall in left-center, scoring David Ortiz from second, giving the Red Sox a victory on what was an intensely frustrating night of baseball. (It was Sizemore's first walkoff hit since August 11, 2006!)
Felix Doubront (5.1-5-1-3-3, 97) turned in yet another inconsistent start and Boston struggled to convert prime scoring opportunities off Homer Bailey (6-5-3-5-5, 110). In the end, however, they received superb performances out of the bullpen from Burke Badenhop, Andrew Miller and Craig Breslow, and, after 4:04, everything worked out for the best.
Bailey never had his pitches working at any time during the game and Boston scored right away in the first. Dustin Pedroia walked and Shane Victorino singled. Ortiz appeared to ground into a double play, but second base umpire Jim Wolf blew the call, saying Reds shortstop Zack Cozart did not get his foot on the bag in time (he did). The Reds did not challenge the call. Pedroia took third on the grounder and he scored on Mike Napoli's ground out to first.
After a strong first inning, with two strikeouts, Doubront nibbled in the second - and paid the price. Todd Frazier walked, Ryan Ludwick doubled, and Skip Schumaker singled to produce a 1-1 tie. Doubront wriggled out of any further trouble with a pop-up to short right, a fielder's choice out at the plate and a fly to right.
Jackie Bradley walked to begin the third and took third on Pedroia's double. The runners had to hold as Victorino grounded to third. Ortiz was walked intentionally to load the bases; then Bailey walked Napoli to bring in one run. Sizemore's single scored another and Boston led 3-1.
The Red Sox squandered another scoring opportunity against Bailey in the fifth. Ortiz cracked a ground-rule double to right and Napoli walked. The table was set, but Sizemore lined out to deep left, Xander Bogaerts struck out, and A.J. Pierzynski grounded into a force.
The Reds hit two two-out singles in the fourth, but could not score. Doubront issued two four-pitch walks in the sixth and left the contest with one out. Badenhop came in and needed only one pitch to induce an inning-ending double play.
Junichi Tazawa pitched the eighth and allowed the Reds to tie the game. With one out, Joey Votto walked, Brandon Phillips doubled, Frazier singled (3-2), and Ludwick lofted a sac fly (3-3).
Cincinnati threatened against Koji Uehara in the ninth. Cozart led off with a single and was bunted to second by Billy Hamilton. Cozart moved on to third as Tucker Barnhart flied to right. Chris Heisey then bunted down the third base line. Uehara raced over, got the ball and slipped, unable to make a play. But Cozart had not run from third! (He likely would have been out had he tried for the plate.) Uehara then got Votto to foul out to third.
Boston had a good chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth. Pedroia singled with one out, but was caught stealing. Victorino and Ortiz both walked, and Vic stole third while Napoli batted. But the Bearded One grounded to short to end the inning.
Miller pitched the tenth and eleventh, allowing no hits and striking out four. Breslow allowed a two-out hit in the twelfth, but fanned Frazier to end the inning.
In the home half of the twelfth, Ortiz whacked a 3-1 pitch off Logan Ondrusek into the shift for a single. Napoli grounded a full-count offering past the shortstop's left and into left-center. Sizemore hit his game-winning single on the first pitch he saw.
Sizemore and Pedroia ended the night with three hits apiece. ... Napoli and Sizemore each drove in two runs. ... The Red Sox (16-17) will try to get to .500 for the ninth time on Wednesday night.
Pedroia, 2BThe Cincinnati Reds visit Fenway Park for two games in a week with two scheduled off-days for the Red Sox: yesterday and Thursday.
Victorino, RF
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Sizemore, LF
Bogaerts, SS
Pierzynski, C
Middlebrooks, 3B
Bradley, CF
If you are wondering if these franchises have played each other before (outside of the 1975 World Series, of course):
June 13-14-15, 2005: Red Sox won 3 of 3: 10-3, 7-0, 6-1
June 13-14-15, 2008: Red Sox won 2 of 3: 1-3, 6-4, 9-0
4 comments:
I may have hallucinated this, but I'm pretty sure I saw an ESPN commercial pushing tonight's game as a rematch of the 75 world series. So who's Dick Drago on this year's squad?
Who was the only member of the Red Sox who was alive during the 1975 WS?
Koji! Born in April 1975.
Farrell was 13 years old.
(I turned 12 on the day of Game 5.)
Tricky, had to check on Papi... November 75
Team now tied for div lead in wins and losses ? Very strange....
Post a Comment