Byrd was brilliant on the mound for the Red Sox in his first major
league start of 2009, allowing just three hits and three walks in six
innings of shutout ball. Byrd even outdueled Roy Halladay, the
perennial Cy Young candidate from the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Red
Sox finished a three-game sweep of the visiting Jays, winning the
finale 7-0.
The Red Sox cracked Halladay early in Sunday's contest, getting
back-to-back doubles from Victor Martinez and Kevin Youkilis to take a
1-0 lead in the first. The Sox then proceeded to score one run in each
of the next three innings, including a solo home run from Rocco
Baldelli in the second, and they broke the game wide open with a
three-run rally to make the lead 7-0 after seven.
The Boston bullpen came through to preserve Byrd's shutout, as Manny
Delcarmen, Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito teamed up to throw three
scoreless innings and finish the Jays off. The Red Sox finish their
10-game home stand with seven wins, putting some distance between
themselves and the Rangers in the AL wild card race.
Final: Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 0.
Saito strikes out the first two batters he faces, but the Jays then
give him a scare when Bautista walks and John McDonald doubles down the
line in right field. Marco Scutaro steps in with a chance to put the
Jays back in the game, but he flies to left, and Rocco Baldelli is
there to seal the win and the series sweep.
End 8th, 7-0 Sox: The bottom of the eighth goes smoothly for
Carlson, who gets J.D. Drew to fly out to center field before striking
out Baldelli and Varitek in succession. We're headed for the ninth,
with the Sox looking to polish off the series sweep — Wagner is done
after one inning, and Takashi Saito will come in for the ninth, hoping to polish off the shutout victory.
Middle 8th, 7-0 Sox: The Billy Wagner era is officially underway
in Boston, and it starts well. Hitting 97 and 98 on the gun, Wagner
comes in and records a scoreless eighth, striking out the side and
letting an Adam Lind double go to waste. With Wagner's debut a success,
we move now to the bottom of the eighth, as Jesse Carlson will take the mound for the Blue Jays.
End 7th, 7-0 Sox: A costly error gives the Red Sox a nice little
rally against Camp. After Gonzalez leads off with a double and an
Ellsbury bunt single puts runners at the corners, Pedroia bunts one
back to Camp as well. It appears to be a routine play, but the throw
gets away from the Jays' pitcher and two runs score on the huge error.
Youkilis later bangs one off the wall in left to drive home Pedroia,
and the Sox now have a whopping 7-0 lead.
Middle 7th, 4-0 Sox: The Jays can't make good contact against
Delcarmen — they get one runner on with a one-out walk to Jose
Bautista, but they can't muster anything more than that. Three Toronto
batters pop up in the top of the seventh, and we remain scoreless
heading into the seventh-inning stretch. Shawn Camp will pitch the bottom of the seventh for the Jays.
End 6th, 4-0 Sox: Halladay stays in to pitch the sixth with his
pitch count pushing 100, and despite a leadoff single from Big Papi, it
all turns out okay for the Jays. Halladay mows down both Drew and
Varitek in the sixth to bring his K total for the game to six; Ortiz is
stranded at first base. On to the seventh, and Manny Delcarmen will take the mound in relief of Byrd.
Middle 6th, 4-0 Sox: Byrd makes it six straight Blue Jays
retired in innings five and six — the first two Toronto hitters go
down easily, and Rod Barajas then gives the Sox a scare with a fly ball
to the warning track in center field, but Jacoby Ellsbury is there to
track it down. It appears that Byrd is likely done after six innings —
and they were six brilliant ones. He leaves with a shutout intact, and
the Sox have a nice comfortable four-run cushion and a fresh bullpen
raring to go. Perhaps we'll even see Billy Wagner today?
End 5th, 4-0 Sox: Roy Halladay has achieved the unthinkable:
He's recorded a scoreless inning against the Red Sox. In fact, he's set
the Sox down 1-2-3, getting Dustin Pedroia to ground out to second and
Victor Martinez to fly to center before striking out Kevin Youkilis. On
to the sixth inning, where the Jays will take one more crack at
breaking through against Paul Byrd.
Middle 5th, 4-0 Sox: Again, the Blue Jays threaten against Paul
Byrd; again, nothing comes of it. John McDonald leads off the inning
with a first-pitch swing and a single to left field, and a Scutaro bunt
moves him over. But Byrd steps up with the man in scoring position,
first getting Aaron Hill to ground out and then striking out Adam Lind
for his first K. Remarkably, Byrd still has a shutout going in his
first big league start of 2009.
End 4th, 4-0 Sox: Halladay has still yet to throw a single
scoreless inning against the Red Sox — here J.D. Drew starts things
off with a single to right, and a Varitek grounder to the right side
advances him to second. Alex Gonzalez follows with a single to right
field, and Drew races home to score, sliding just barely wide of the
tag from Rod Barajas. Another inning, another run for the Red Sox, who
now lead 4-0 in their quest for a sweep of Toronto.
Middle 4th, 3-0 Sox: More of the same from Paul Byrd — he lets
the Blue Jays mount a threat, and then he works his way out of it. Here
he allows a leadoff double to Adam Lind and later walks both Barajas
and Snider, but with the bases loaded, a mound conference with pitching
coach John Farrell appears to calm Byrd down. After the quick
meeting Jose Bautista flies out to right, and it's now four straight
scoreless innings for Byrd.
End 3rd, 3-0 Sox: Dustin Pedroia leads off the third inning with
a high fly ball of the top of the wall in left field — he ends up at
second base with a double, and the Red Sox quickly advance him home
with a groundout by Victor Martinez and a Kevin Youkilis sac fly to
center field. Three innings in the books, and Doc Halladay has yet to
keep the Sox scoreless in any of them — Byrd now has a three-run lead
to work with as he takes the mound for the top of the fourth.
Middle 3rd, 2-0 Sox: The Blue Jays can't even get one out of the
infield against Byrd in the third — three straight groundouts spell
yet another scoreless inning. McDonald bunts one back to Byrd and
Scutaro and Hill each ground out to Youkilis at third. Byrd has used a
fairly efficient 43 pitches to put up three scoreless innings for the
Red Sox; Halladay has already surpassed that number through two (45 and
counting).
End 2nd, 2-0 Sox: Halladay makes the mistake of leaving a
fastball over the plate for Rocco Baldelli, and Rocco makes him pay,
leading off the second with a home run over the Monster in left field.
Halladay bounces back to retire the next three batters, but the Sox now
have a two-run cushion for Paul Byrd.
Middle 2nd, 1-0 Sox: Byrd has himself an early head against
Halladay and the Blue Jays, and he's not about to squander it. Toronto
musters one baserunner when Travis Snider battles back from
down 1-2 to work a walk, but Jose Bautista fails to capitalize, going
after the first pitch and flying out to Drew in right. On to the bottom
of the second — bottom of the order (Baldelli, Varitek and Alex Gonzalez) due up for Boston.
End 1st, 1-0 Sox: The Red Sox come out hacking against Halladay
in the first inning. Doc gets the first two outs without breaking a
sweat, but a two out rally ensues when Victor Martinez doubles to right
field and Kevin Youkilis then doubles to right, producing a run. Halladay then walks David Ortiz
to put two on for J.D. Drew, but Drew eventually goes down swinging.
After a long first inning (28 pitches, 15 strikes for Halladay), we're
moving on to the second.
Middle 1st, 0-0: Paul Byrd's second stint in a Red Sox uniform
is underway, and all is well for the veteran right-hander so far. Marco
Scutaro announces his return with a hard-hit single to the right side,
giving the Jays a lead man on, but Byrd recovers nicely to retire the
side. A flyout and two groundouts give the Jays a goose egg in the
first against Byrd.
1:03 p.m.: Here's something you don't see every day: Manager Terry Francona is giving Rocco Baldelli
a start in left field, not right, on this Sunday afternoon. Baldelli
has made 397 career appearances in center field, 33 in right and only
two in left. He has more experience as a DH (47 games) than a left
fielder.
Baldelli gives a day off to Jason Bay, meaning J.D. Drew will start in right field as usual. In other news, Jason Varitek is back behind the plate to catch Paul Byrd, meaning the Sox do their little infield shift and force Mike Lowell back to the bench.
For the Blue Jays, the big news is that Marco Scutaro is back in the lineup — the Jays' shortstop took a pitch from Josh Beckett directly in the back of the head in the fourth inning of Friday night's game. Scutaro will lead off and play shortstop; also, Rod Barajas is back behind the plate for Toronto, batting sixth, and Jose Bautista moves out to left field with Adam Lind DHing on Kevin Millar's day off. John McDonald takes Bautista's spot at third base.
8:39 a.m.: The Red Sox have lived by two rules this season:
One, they can always find ways to win at home, and two, no matter how
they do against the rest of the AL East, they're never out of their
element against the Toronto Blue Jays.
This
weekend has done nothing to disprove either of those rules. The Sox
have improved to 10-4 against the Jays with two wins this weekend, and
they now look for the sweep in Sunday afternoon's series finale.
There's only one thing standing in their way.
That would be Roy Halladay,
perennial frontrunner for the Cy Young award in the American League.
Halladay has cooled off in August and is 0-2 in his last two starts,
but he's still one of the game's most dominant power pitchers — the
Sox will have their hands full.
Opposing Halladay will be Paul Byrd,
who makes his first start of the season for the Red Sox. Byrd was 4-2
in eight starts for Boston last season, and general manager Theo Epstein
has brought him back in the hopes of adding a strong veteran arm to the
team's rotation down the stretch. Will the move pay off? It's now time
to find out.
