In a series where all eyes are on the Barry Bonds homerun chase, Manny Ramirez was the one who went yard to give the Boston Red Sox (43-24) the 1-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants (30-37).
It was all about the pitching in this one as there was a total of nine hits between both clubs and one run in the game.
Daisuke Matsuzaka (8-5) went 7 innings strong, on three hits, zero runs, three walks, and eight strikeouts picking up his eighth win of the season. While Matt Cain (2-7), the loser in this contest, also went 7 innings with three hits, one earned run, one walk, three strikeouts, and one homerun.
The only run scored came in the bottom of the fourth inning on a Ramirez homerun. Ramirez homered off of Cain over the Monster Seats giving the Sox the 1-0 lead and after Matsuzaka exited after seven innings of work, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon came in to close the door and seal the victory.
Okajima allowed one hit and and an HPB in the bottom of the eighth but got out of the inning unscaved and picked up his 11th hold of the season.
Papelbon’s ninth was much easier as he threw a 1-2-3 inning saving his 16th game of the season.
Barry Bonds was 0-3 in the loss with one walk and a strikeout. Bonds is still stuck at the 747 career homerun mark.
Hopefully for the Red Sox Ramirez is out of his slump with his solo homerun and will start to get into the groove when Boston needs it most as the Yankees are 8.5 games back in the division.
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