The Red Sox cruised to a 10-0 win over the Orioles in Tuesday night's series opener, as Clay Buchholz threw seven masterful innings and the Sox' bats were out in full force. Boston rallied for three runs in the first inning, and the game's outcome was never in doubt.
Buchholz was brilliant, retiring the first 10 Orioles he faced and finishing with five strikeouts, one walk and three hits in his seven shutout innings. Rookie Michael Bowden was solid in relief for the final two innings, allowing just two baserunners.
At the plate, the Sox enjoyed their own private Home Run Derby. Dustin Pedroia went deep for a two-run homer in the first inning, adding another in the third to make it his first career multi-homer game. Kevin Youkilis also went deep in the first, and Alex Gonzalez homered in the second inning. The Sox led 8-0 through three. J.D. Drew and David Ortiz also homered later on.
Final: Red Sox 10, Orioles 0.
Bowden stays in to get the final six outs, and he does so without
breaking much of a sweat. Jeff Fiorentino manages a single off of
Bowden with one out, but two more Baltimore bench scrubs — Justin
Turner and Guillermo Rodriguez — go down in order to end it. A solid outing for Bowden to lock up the win; cue up "Dirty Water."
9:46 p.m.: Want some extra analysis of Clay Buchholz's gem
tonight? Want to hear more about the Sox' home run parade at Fenway
tonight? Stay tuned to the TV broadcast — NESN's "Extra Innings" is
coming up next. T.C., Jim and Heidi will recap all the action.
End 8th, 10-0 Sox: The B team doesn't fare quite so well at the plate — Gathright and Chris Woodward each strike out swinging in the eighth against Dennis Sarfate, but no matter. We're going to the ninth, and the Red Sox are on their way to polishing off a blowout win.
Middle 8th, 10-0 Sox: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to garbage
time. The Sox pull six starters, including Buchholz, and give the
September call-ups a chance to shine in the final two innings of
tonight's blowout. The new outfield, from left to right, is Joey Gathright, Brian Anderson and Josh Reddick; Nick Green takes over for Youk at third base; Dusty Brown steps in behind the plate; and it's Michael Bowden,
the touted rookie, taking the mound in Buchholz's stead. This is the
Sox' B team, and it does just fine — Bowden throws a quick 1-2-3
inning, and we're moving on to the bottom of the eighth.
End 7th, 10-0 Sox: Papi goes deep! David Ortiz joins the home
run parade, blasting one deep to dead center field for his 23rd home
run of the season. It's also his 269th of all time as a DH, tying Frank
Thomas for the most ever at that position. Hard to believe that Papi
had zero homers this season back in May. He's really mashing now.
Middle 7th, 9-0 Sox: Another smooth inning for Buchholz, who is still going strong through seven. Jeff Fiorentino grounds out to Gonzalez at short to lead off the inning, and Trembley then goes to his bench for rookie Justin Turner
to pinch-hit for Melvin Mora. In his first-ever big league at-bat,
Turner strikes out, and after a Matt Wieters single, Luke Scott grounds
out. Inning over. Yet another goose egg from an absolutely dominating
Clay Buchholz.
End 6th, 9-0 Sox: Alex Gonzalez makes some noise with one out,
driving a ground-rule double to deep left field to put a man in scoring
position, and the Sox rally from there. An Ellsbury single puts runners
at the corners, which brings Trembley to the mound for a pitching
change. Chris Ray enters in relief of Castillo, and he promptly
walks Dustin Pedroia before a Victor Martinez grounder to the right
side plates a run. A Youkilis groundout ends the inning, but the Sox
have tacked on another run. With Buchholz cruising, the 9-0 lead looks
insurmountable.
Middle 6th, 8-0 Sox: A quick top of the sixth for Buchholz, who
shows no signs of slowing after 89 pitches. Here, he gets three easy
outs against the O's 1-2-3 hitters — Brian Roberts grounds
out, and Pie and Reimold each ground out to Youk at third. Buchholz
keeps the shutout going through six — very impressive for the
potential No. 3 playoff starter of this Red Sox team.
End 5th, 8-0 Sox: Another rocky inning for the O's pitching
staff, but this time, they get out of it. Victor Martinez leads things
off with a double to left, and Kevin Youkilis follows that up with a
five-pitch walk. A David Ortiz single loads the bases, but after a Jason Bay strikeout, Alberto Castillo comes in and puts out the fire. It's a J.D. Drew double play that ends the Red Sox' threat.
Middle 5th, 8-0 Sox: Matt Wieters leads off the fifth with a
long double to left, and the Orioles appear to be in business. But
Buchholz comes roaring back — he strikes out Scott and Wigginton
swinging, giving him four K's on the night, and Cesar Izturis then
grounds out to second to end the inning. The shutout remains intact.
End 4th, 8-0 Sox: Finally, the Red Sox put up a goose egg. Chris
Lambert is starting to get the job done in relief of Hernandez,
striking out Alex Gonzalez and getting Jacoby Ellsbury to ground out
meekly. Cesar Izturis then makes a nice stab of a Dustin Pedroia liner
for the third out, and the O's are out of the inning and we're headed
to the fifth.
Middle 4th, 8-0 Sox: The Orioles are starting to figure out Buchholz a little bit. Pie draws a walk with one out, and after Buchholz gets Nolan Reimold
to ground into an easy fielder's choice, Markakis hits one hard up the
middle for a base hit, putting runners at the corners. He gets out of
the jam, but he's starting to look human nonetheless. No perfect game
for Buchholz.
End 3rd, 8-0 Sox: Are you kidding me? Pedroia goes deep again
off of the rookie Hernandez, getting a change-up down the middle on 2-2
and blasting it to left field, over the wall for the fourth Boston home
run of the night. Dave Trembley comes to the mound and pulls Hernandez before the end of the third inning, going to Chris Lambert to stop the bleeding. It doesn't work — J.D. Drew takes Lambert deep to right for a three-run blast, and the Red Sox have broken this thing wide, wide open.
Middle 3rd, 4-0 Sox: Through three innings now, Buchholz is
looking simply untouchable. He needs just six pitches to get out of the
third inning — Luke Scott grounds out on the first pitch, Ty Wigginton
fans on three easy strikes, and Cesar Izturis flies to left on a 1-0
pitch. Buchholz is looking not just powerful, but efficient too. Very,
very encouraging.
End 2nd, 4-0 Sox: Here's where they keep piling it on. Even Alex
Gonzalez gets into the act, hitting one high and deep down the
left-field line for the Sox' third homer of the night. At this point,
you have to wonder how longer David Hernandez is going to stay out
there. What's the over-under — two more innings?
Middle 2nd, 3-0 Sox: Six up, six down for the visiting Orioles against Buchholz. Nick Markakis grounds out to short to lead things off, and Melvin Mora and Matt Wieters follow with a strikeout and flyout, respectively. Buch's cruising through this one so far.
End 1st, 3-0 Sox: The fireworks are going off early — the Red Sox have wasted absolutely no time getting on the board against David Hernandez. Jacoby Ellsbury leads off the first inning with an eight-pitch walk, and Dustin Pedroia
follows with a long home run over the Green Monster in left field.
After that, the Sox keep piling it on — Victor Martinez threatens to
go deep himself, but Felix Pie fades back to the track to run
it down. But next up is Kevin Youkilis, and he too goes deep. There's
no tracking down the long fly to left from Youk — it goes over the
wall and into the night. It's 3-0 Sox.
Middle 1st, 0-0: Nothing's changed — Clay Buchholz still loves
facing the Orioles at Fenway Park. He's a long way from another
no-hitter, but he does throw a perfect first inning against the top of
the Baltimore order, including a liner almost to the warning track in
left by Nick Markakis to end the inning. Top of the order's coming up for the Sox.
6:25 p.m.: Tonight's lineup will feature no Jason Varitek and no Mike Lowell. Victor Martinez swoops in to take Varitek's place behind the plate catching Clay Buchholz, and Casey Kotchman slots into the lineup at first base. Kevin Youkilis moves over to third, taking Lowell's spot.
Alex Gonzalez will play shortstop and bat ninth for the Red Sox tonight. Jed Lowrie is with the club, but it remains to be seen whether he'll play tonight.
Not too much to report from the Orioles' side. Regular starters Matt Wieters, Luke Scott and Cesar Izturis all had the day off yesterday for Labor Day, but all three are back in the lineup tonight.
11:30 a.m.: News flash: The Red Sox are always, always, always happy to be home.
After
yet another frustrating road trip, in which they lost three of four to
a mediocre Chicago White Sox team, the Sox return home to Fenway Park
looking to do some damage. They're in a bit of a funk now, but so are
their closest rivals in the wild-card chase, Texas and Tampa Bay. If
the Sox can go on a run now, they've got a good shot at stamping their
ticket to October.
This Tuesday night, they begin an eight-game homestand that will decide a lot about their future. They open with a two-game quickie against the visiting Orioles, then take on Tampa Bay for three (final nail in the coffin, anyone?) and close out the stretch with a pivotal three-game series against a strong playoff contender, the AL West-leading Angels.
The Sox are where they want to be: Fenway. They're 45-21 in their home ballpark this season, and they need a strong homestand now with a grueling road swing coming up later this month. It all starts with the O's right now, and it starts with Clay Buchholz taking the mound against Baltimore rookie David Hernandez.
Put two inexperienced pitchers together, and anything can happen. This should be a fun one from the Fens.
