Red Sox Swept After 17 Inning Heartbreaker (11-16)

Buchholz was very bad,
again

Being swept by the Orioles frankly sucks, as the Sox dropped one in 17 innings today after some questionable decisions by Bobby Valentine. The O's jumped out to a 1-0 lead when J.J. Hardy homered to left in the first. They took another run in the third inning on basically the same result, Hardy driving a hanging curve to left to make it 2-0. However, it was in the fourth that things got really bad for the Sox with the Orioles putting a pair of runners on base with just one out. Robert Andino, a famed Red Sox killed, came up and promptly drove an inside fastball over the monster to give the Orioles a 5-0 lead early on. After a couple more batters, Buchholz was taken out after a miserable day where he only lasted 3.2 innings, allowing five runs. Andrew Miller came out of the bullpen and got the last out of the fourth to send it over to the offense. There was hope when Mike Aviles led off the inning with a double, and more when Ryan Sweeney singled to center to make it 5-1. That would be all the Sox would score in that inning, however.

Will Middlebrooks had his first career
home run today

However, Andrew Miller worked a shutdown fifth-- his first outing since last September-- and went 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 K. The Sox led off the fifth by loading the bases on a pair of singles and a walk. Will Middlebrooks came up and deposited his first career home run into the monster seats-- a game tying blast to make it 5-5. In the top of the eighth, Mark Reynolds would give the O's a 6-5 lead by doubling high off the wall in center field. However, the Sox would tie it back up in the bottom of the inning when pinch-runner Darnell McDonald came in on a sacrifice fly. Several more innings passed, before Bobby Valentine made a stupid mistake and put Darnell McDonald in to pitch (he surrendered a three-run homer to Adam Jones) when Clayton Mortensen was still available in the bullpen. The Sox lost in 17 innings and were swept by the Orioles.

Bright Spots:
The Bullpen- 13.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 6 BB, 11 K
Mike Aviles- 3-8, 1 R, 2 2B
Ryan Sweeney- 4-8, 1 RBI
Will Middlebrooks- 2-7, 1 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI

Dull Spots:
Clay Buchholz- 3.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 4 K
Adrian Gonzalez- 0-8, 2 K, 8 LOB

Player of the Game:
Will Middlebrooks- Middlebrooks had his first career home run today, a game-tying grand slam off of Tommy Hunter. I have a feeling he's gonna be a great player.