Doubront Blows Early Lead As Sox Fall In Extras (53-54)

Doubront allowed a four run
fifth inning

Last night was a really depressing game as the Red Sox raced out to an early lead, only to be met by disappointment as the Twins came back to tie and eventually win the game. After scoreless first innings by both teams, a leadoff double by Justin Morneau got the Twins going in the second. He would score later on a soft single up the middle by Darin Mastroianni to give the Twins an early lead. However, the Red Sox caught right up in the bottom of the second on a two-out double by Carl Crawford. The rally would be complete when Crawford scored on a single by Kelly Shoppach to tie it at 1-1. That was it for that inning, but the third was when the Red Sox really did some damage against Twins starter Brian Duensing. They scored one run when they led off the third with three straight singles (Dustin Pedroia, Cody Ross, Adrian Gonzalez). The next two hitters got out, leaving men at first and second for Carl Crawford. On a 2-0 count, Crawford popped up a ball to first baseman Justin Morneau. However, Morneau overran it and dropped the routine popup. On the next pitch, Crawford hit a three-run homer to right.

Crawford hit his third home run

That 5-1 lead gave Felix Doubront a nice cushion to work with, and he did for a few innings. However, in the fifth, the Twins offense did their damage for the night-- loading the bases on two singles and a walk with one out. Doubront promptly walked a run in with Josh Willingham at the plate to cut it to 5-2. That was when Justin Morneau (who had a great game) popped a little bloop single into center field to score two runs and cut it to 5-4, still with only one out. Danny Valencia proceeded to line a ball into the right field corner which Cody Ross somehow caught-- the run scored on the play, but it could've been much worse and the Red Sox escaped the inning tied. It stayed tied for a while, until the tenth to be exact. That was when Darin Mastroianni led off the inning with a double. Two batters later, he would score when Jamey Carroll blooped a ball to center and that was that, the Twins won 6-5.

Bright Spots:
Craig Breslow- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R
Mark Melancon- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 K
Andrew Miller- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
Dustin Pedroia- 2-5, 1 R
Cody Ross- 2-5, 1 R, 1 2B
Adrian Gonzalez- 1-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 RBI
Carl Crawford- 3-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Kelly Shoppach- 2-5, 1 RBI
Mike Aviles- 2-4

Dull Spots:
Felix Doubront- 5 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 2 K
Vicente Padilla- 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 K
Will Middlebrooks- 0-5, 1 K, 4 LOB

Player of the Game:
Carl Crawford- Crawford came just a triple short of the cycle in a 3-5 ballgame, doubling, scoring twice, and hitting his third home run-- he is now .254/3/8 this season.