For a player that had never felt the joy of a walk-off hit in the majors, Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury is sure getting used to the feeling as he had his second in a row against the Cleveland Indians tonight at Fenway Park.
Whereas last night's single won it in the ninth, Ellsbury ratcheted up the excitement this evening with a solo homer (his 18th of the season) with two outs in the ninth against Cleveland (54-54) reliever Joe Smith (2-2).
As a fun footnote, the ball landed in the first row of the center field bleachers about 10 rows in front of where I was sitting with my girlfriend and other friends from college. That makes it 2-for-2 for my girlfriend and I this season in terms of Red Sox (68-41) wins of the walk-off variety in both games we've attended (also Carl Crawford's single vs. Seattle on May 1).
For the second straight outing, Tim Wakefield pitched well enough to notch his 200th career win on most nights but he got a no-decision after 6.2 innings of work. He allowed three earned runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts. Hey, what's another few days to MLB's oldest player (he just turned 45 yesterday)?
Indians starter Carlos Carrasco also got a no-decision. He went seven innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on nine hits with three walks and five strikeouts.
Dustin Pedroia, Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Reddick all had two hits as Boston outhit Cleveland by a 2-to-1 margin (10-5) overall.
David Ortiz gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead in the first with a two-run single which scored Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis.
Jason Kipnis put a run up for the Tribe with a solo homer (second night in a row he's done that) in the fourth followed later by an RBI double by Travis Hafner in the same frame that tied it at two.
Ortiz scored on Marco Scutaro's fielder's choice in the fourth.
Ezequiel Carrera's ground-rule double to right scored Lonnie Chisenhall in the seventh but Ellsbury sent everyone home happy with his blast in the ninth.
Like Ellsbury, Jonathan Papelbon (4-0) had another notable performance as he picked up his second win in as many nights with a 1-2-3 ninth complete with a strikeout. The unsung hero (and who thought I'd ever say this in my life) was Randy Williams. Yes, that one. He served as the bridge between Wakefield and Papelbon, getting four very important outs including no hits and two strikeouts.
Tomorrow night's series finale is an intriguing one as Erik Bedard makes his Red Sox debut against former Boston hurler Justin Masterson (who consistently pitches well against his old team). The Red Sox will look to win the series 3-1 and gain some steam going into a huge weekend meeting with the Yankees, who sit only one game back in the AL East.
Follow @RichSlate
Tweet
No comments:
Post a Comment