Red Sox Fall To .500 While Stranding Sixteen (28-28)

Beckett had a very strong
outing last night

After a brief stint over the .500 mark (and even out of last for some time), the Red Sox fell back to .500 and the cellar after a loss to Baltimore last night. Neither team scored until the third inning-- Beckett actually started off the game with three perfect innings-- but the Red Sox finally got started in the bottom of the third. The inning started after Darnell McDonald doubled off the green monster in left-center to start the inning off. McDonald advanced to third on a bloop single into right by Marlon Byrd to put the Red Sox in a great position to start a rally. Mike Aviles hit a fly ball to left field and McDonald hustled home to score. However, in a sense that sacrifice fly, while scoring a run, killed the rally-- as the Red Sox did not score again in the inning. Beckett's perfect game was broken up in the fourth on a leadoff single by Endy Chavez, but Chavez was quickly erased on a J.J. Hardy double play. Things were cruising along with a 1-0 lead all the way until the sixth inning, when the Orioles finally broke things up.

                                     

Two ground ball singles woke the Orioles' offense up, as they now had runners at the corners with no outs off Josh Beckett. Robert Andino knocked a bloop single into right field to score one of those runs and tie things up at 1-1. It wouldn't stay 1-1 for long, however, as Endy Chavez hit a slow bouncer to second base. Dustin Pedroia went for the double play, but only got one out and the run scored (it would've scored anyway). That run made the difference as the Orioles took a 2-1 lead. Josh Beckett exited the game after the eighth after a pretty good outing that saw him go 8 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 5 K-- however, he earned the loss as the Red Sox offense sucked tonight. 

Bright Spots:

Vicente Padilla- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R

Kevin Youkilis- 1-3, 1 BB

Will Middlebrooks- 2-4

Adrian Gonzalez- 1-3

Darnell McDonald- 1-2, 1 R, 1 2B

Marlon Byrd- 1-3

Dull Spots:

Dustin Pedroia- 0-4, 2 K, 1 LOB

Player of the Game:

Josh Beckett- Despite being tagged with the loss, Beckett pitched very well last night, allowing two runs and walking none in eight innings-- he is now 4-6/4.04/51 this year.