The Red Sox have been to extra innings five times previously in the season and lost all five of those games. That’s not a good stat. Tonight, the Sox would once again head to free baseball, however this time the Mariners would not walk off on them and they would walk away with a split to the 4 game series.
Felix Doubront took the mound for the Sox and while he didn’t have his best stuff, he left the mound only giving up one run. Dubi threw way too many pitches and just wasn’t efficient. He gave up his one and only run in the 3rd inning when he had runners on the corners and no outs. Ichiro hit a sac fly to left field and Figgins tagged up and scored for the Mariners. Doubront left the game in the 5th inning having thrown 103 pitches. His line for the night was 4.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 5 BB, 4 Ks. Doubront left the game with the bases loaded and one out. Matt Albers was into the game and with one pitch he was able to get Montero to ground into a double play to end the inning. Albers pitched a scoreless 6th inning as well. Atchison came out and pitched scoreless 7th and 8th innings…as per usual. Padilla pitched a scoreless 9th inning and we were on to extra innings. When the Sox were able to get a lead in the top of the 10th, Alfredo Aceves came out and had himself a 1-2-3 inning save.
Now about that offense…there isn’t a lot to say. The Sox just barely got this one in the win column. The Sox had a chance to score early when they had a runner at 3rd with no outs, however they were not able to get the run on the board. After the Mariners got a run in the 3rd, it seemed like it took forever for the Sox to be able to crack the scoreboard. The Sox went scoreless until the 8th inning when Pedey hit a solo HR to tie the game. It was the perfect time for Pedey to bust a wee bit out of his slump. The game would stay 1-1 until the top of the 10th when the Sox were able to squeak out another run. Ryan Kalish hit a pinch hit double followed by a Pedey single to get Kalish to 3rd with one out. David Ortiz was at the plate with the chance to put the Sox ahead. Papi didn’t hit his 400th HR however he did hit a sac fly way out to right field in order to score Kalish. That’ll do it. Sox 2-1.
Phew. I don’t think I could handle being walked off on three times in a series…by the Mariners. On to Oakland we go.
Photo Credit: Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images
Red Sox 2 Mariners 1 BOXSCORE
WP: Padilla (2-0) LP: League (0-5) SV: Aceves (19)
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