David Ortiz inched one step closer to the 500-home run plateau Friday night.
The Boston Red Sox slugger sent the first pitch he saw from New York Mets reliever Logan Verrett in the seventh inning over the wall at Citi Field, opening the scoring for the Red Sox in a game they eventually won 6-4 in 10 innings.
The home run was the 493rd of Ortiz’s career, tying him with Lou Gehrig and Fred McGriff for 27th all-time.
“What impresses me about David is he’s never seen the guy (Verrett), first-pitch fastball and he hits it over the left-center field wall for a home run,” acting Red Sox manager Torey Lovullo told reporters after the game, as aired on “Red Sox Extra Innings LIVE.” “Nothing he does surprises me anymore, that’s for darn sure. And it got us going, it got us pushed in the right direction and gave us a good kick-start.”
That proved to be Ortiz’s final at-bat of the evening, as Travis Shaw replaced him midway through the eighth inning. It initially was speculated Shaw might have entered for defensive purposes, but Lovullo said after the game Ortiz’s exit was injury-related.
“David’s fine,” Lovullo told reporters. “He had a little left heel tightness. He felt it coming on, so he just thought it would be a good thing to take himself out of the lineup, take care of that, and we’ll see where he’s at (Saturday).
Some additional notes from Friday’s wacky Red Sox win:
— Sox reliever Junichi Tazawa came on to work the bottom of the 10th with a three-run lead. He picked up two quick outs courtesy of a 1-6-3 double play.
Then, he fell apart.
Tazawa, who bent down awkward on a ground ball to begin the twin killing, proceeded to walk the next four batters before being lifted from the game. Craig Breslow took over with the bases loaded and the winning run on first and induced a fly ball to center to close out a very stressful ballgame for Red Sox fans.
“Taz just had a little bit of low back tightness,” Lovullo told reporters. “He reached for the ball, kind of twisted and turned. He said he was fine. I asked him to throw two (warmup) pitches. I said, ‘Can you throw me a fastball and a breaking ball?’ He obliged and said he was fine. … I think there was a little bit of a distraction. He was working really good, free and easy up to that point. It’s a team effort. The bullpen picked each other up (Friday), and (Breslow) was there to pick him up.”
— Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski addressed the media before the game. He touched on a variety of topics, including how his search for a new general manager is going.
“I’m not anywhere right now, because I haven’t even really, other than compiled names of people that I would know or somebody has recommended,” Dombrowski told reporters, as aired on “Red Sox First Pitch.” “I have not done anything on it, because I think it’s more important to know everybody’s responsibilities now to get the proper group together. … I think the end of the season would be a logical time frame, but I don’t think it’s imperative. But I would move toward that. But you also have to know (if)Â there’s other GM openings that are going to be available, who’s going to be interested in what jobs. But if that came about by then, it would be great, but again, I don’t want to rush it.
— Dombrowski also discussed the injury that has sidelined right-hander Clay Buchholz. He confirmed that Buchholz would not pitch again this season but said he expects the pitcher to make a full recovery. If that happens, Dombrowski said, picking up Buchholz’s $13 million team option for 2016 will be an “easy” call.
“It’s impossible for me to evaluate personally, because I’m not going to see him pitch,” Dombrowski told reporters. “There’s just not going to be enough time. He’ll probably begin throwing next week — well, there’s just not enough time to build him up to get ready in a game, and you don’t want to rush him and hurt him.
“I think it’s really a simple equation in a sense that, if you think he’s healthy — and I’m not the one that’s capable of making that decision; it’s going to be the doctor’s decision — but picking up his option is a very simple thing, because he’s a good big league pitcher, (and) really, the option’s a good option. But it’s more a matter of the health perspective, otherwise to me, that’s one of those easy decisions, because he’s a quality big league pitcher when he’s out on the mound. We’ve just got to make sure he’s OK. Now, everything that I’ve heard so far, everybody tells me he should be fine. But again, we’ve got some time frame on that. ”
— Friday marked David Wright’s first game at Citi Field since April 14. Owens stepped off the mound before Wright’s first at-bat to allow the Mets captain to acknowledge the home crowd.
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Thumbnail photo via Anthony Gruppuso/USA TODAY Sports Images
