Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Red Sox Not Feeling Fraternal Towards Twins (2-0)

David Ortiz's 3rd inning homer
Buchholz pitched 2 strong innings
Last night was a good game (if you're a Red Sox fan) as the Red Sox just came in and dominated the Twins even more than they had on Saturday. Neither team scored in the first inning, but in the top of the second-- the Sox got going. Darnell McDonald led off the inning with a double, but a defensive miscue in left for Ryan Doumit allowed him to advance to third. Josh Kroeger quickly hit him in with a single up the middle to put the Sox up 1-0. Kroeger advanced to second on a passed ball, and Kelly Shoppach drove a single into left field to put runners at the corners with no outs. A Nick Punto walk loaded the bases for Jason Repko, who hit a slow bouncer to the shortstop, who could not turn the double play while the run scored. Jason Marquis threw another wild pitch to allow Shoppach to score after Jose Iglesias walked to load 'em back up with one out. Ryan Sweeney hit a hard grounder to first base where Justin Morneau made an excellent play to get one out, but then threw the ball away allowing Jason Repko to score to make it 4-0 after two. All the while, Clay Buchholz was pitching his first two official innings since June 16. Much like Beckett, he had control problems but other than that was alright-- his final line was 2 innings, no runs or hits, two walks and two strikeouts. David Ortiz (right) led off the top of the third by taking a high fastball over the right field wall but other than that it was a quiet inning for the Sox. Through the 3rd and 4th innings, I got a look at Vicente Padilla-- he pitched 2 innings, allowing 3 hits but no runs or walks and striking out three. He showed good stuff, but got roughed around to a bases loaded situation in the 4th. After a quiet fifth for the Sox, Will Inman took over pitching for them. Inman got roughed up in the 5th, and while he settled down in the 6th-- his final line of 2 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, and 1 strikeout were not good. It stayed at 5-2 until the 7th, when the Sox went wild on Twins' farmhand Deolis Guerra. Pedro Ciriaco singled to lead off the inning, and was advanced to second on a groundout by Alex Hassan. A Will Middlebrooks single drove him in, but they were just getting started. Lars Anderson walked and Juan Carlos Linares popped out to put first and second with two outs and a 6-2 lead. Then the hits came as Nate Spears laced a ground-rule double down the first base line which scored Middlebrooks and brought Anderson to third. Then, pinch-hitter Daniel Butler crushed an inside fastball over the left field wall for a 3-run homer to make it 10-2-- which ended up as the final score. The Red Sox pitching in the last few innings was excellent as Brandon Duckworth was fantastic (he allowed no runs, hits, or walks while striking out two in two innings) and Jesse Carlson was also sharp in his Red Sox debut with a perfect inning.

Bright Spots:
Brandon Duckworth- 2 innings, no hits, runs, or walks and 2 strikeouts
Jesse Carlson- 1 inning, no hits, runs, or walks
Jose Iglesias- 1-2, 1 walk, 1 steal
Pedro Ciriaco- 1-2, 1 run, 1 steal
Will Middlebrooks- 2-2, 1 RBI, 1 run
David Ortiz- 2-3, 1 run, 1 RBI, 1 home run, 1 double
Darnell McDonald- 1-2, 1 double, 1 run
Josh Kroeger- 1-3, 1 run, 1 RBI
Nate Spears- 1-2, 1 run, 1 RBI, 1 double
Kelly Shoppach- 1-2, 1 run
Daniel Butler- 1-1, 1 run, 3 RBI, 1 homer

Dull Spots:
Will Inman- 2 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout
Alex Hassan- 0-2, 1 left on base
Juan Carlos Linares- 0-3, 1 strikeout, 4 left on base
Oscar Tejeda- 0-2, 1 strikeout

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