A day after exploring some of the team’s worst losses of 2010, here are some of the high points (sticking with the unconventional theme of ranking the top 11 losses, we have 11 wins):
11. July 31 vs. Detroit, 5-4
On a tense trade deadline day the Sox were trailing Justin Verlander and the Tigers 4-0 entering the bottom of the seventh inning, when Ryan Kalish and Darnell McDonald delivered RBI hits to halve the deficit.
That was just the precursor to one of the best ninth-inning rallies of the season. With the bases loaded and one out against hard-throwing lefty Phil Coke, David Ortiz ripped a ball into the gap in left-center field. One run came in easily, as did the second. Kevin Youkilis, off on contact, raced all the way from first and beat the relay. A game-winning, three-run double in his pocket, Ortiz could not contain his emotion before being swarmed by exuberant teammates at second base.
10. June 12 vs. Philadelphia, 10-2
Daisuke Matsuzaka threw a wrench in this interleague affair by suffering a forearm strain while warming up. Scott Atchison made his first career start on short notice and gave three workmanlike innings. The rest of the bullpen combined for six scoreless and the offense pounded out 16 hits.
Oh, and there was a grand slam by Daniel Nava that was just slightly historic. You might recall.
9. July 9 at Toronto, 14-3
Boston had dropped four straight, including three in a row in Tampa, and lost a game in the standings each day. It entered the final series of the first half of the season reeling. Needing a boost they got one from the offense, taking a 13-0 lead after just four innings.
Bill Hall had four RBIs and was one of four Red Sox hitters to crush a home run.
8. April 27 at Toronto, 2-1
Another victory in the Rogers Centre, but one that came in nail-biting fashion. A day after the Sox used six relievers to survive a slugfest, their bullpen was extremely thin. Clay Buchholz responded with eight innings of one-run ball, and the go-ahead run came in the top of the eighth inning when Mike Lowell walked with the bases loaded.
Lowell was pinch hitting for Ortiz in a controversial move by manager Terry Francona that ended up paying off.
7. May 22 at Philadelphia, 5-0
Weeks before he missed a start against the Phillies, Matsuzaka dominated them to the tune of 7 2/3 no-hit innings. He lost his chance at history when Juan Castro blooped a base hit over shortstop Marco Scutaro’s head.
Matsuzaka was taken out after eight innings of what would begin a five-game winning streak for the Sox.
6. June 24 at Colorado, 13-11 (10 innings)
The swan song for Dustin Pedroia. Boston’s All-Star second baseman would break his foot one day after this one, but went out with a bang. Actually, he went out with three.
Pedroia crushed a trio of home runs. The first one got the Sox on the board in the fourth. The second, a two-run shot in the eighth, put them ahead 11-8. After a blown save by Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth, Pedroia smacked another two-run bomb down the line in the 10th to snap the tie. He also doubled and singled in the affair.
Papelbon had blown a lead the night before as well, so Pedroia’s effort spared the club back-to-back crushing losses.
5. August 27 at Tampa Bay, 3-1
Boston pulled within 4 1/2 games of the Rays and Yankees by taking the opener in The Trop behind Jon Lester, who outdueled Tampa Bay All-Star David Price. Lester did not allow an earned run while striking out 10 in seven innings. Victor Martinez provided all the offense necessary with two solo homers.
Unfortunately, the next day was one of the season’s worst losses, a 3-2 setback in 10 innings, and the Sox never got closer in the standings.
4. April 4 vs. New York, 9-7
Opening Night at Fenway came with all the usual bells and whistles, including an appearance by Pedro Martinez, a performance of that song by Neil Diamond and a motivational speech by a tiny tot that brought the house down.
It also featured a rally from a 5-1 deficit and another from a 7-5 deficit. Pedroia tied it with a two-run homer in the seventh and added an insurance run in the eighth after a passed ball put Boston on top. For a day, the Sox were in first place.
3. May 18 at New York, 7-6:
A night after Papelbon surrendered two two-run homers in a devastating loss in Yankee Stadium, he was the last line of defense on a cold, rainy night that saw Josh Beckett leave with the back strain that robbed him of two months.
The Red Sox rallied from five runs down to tie it in the eighth and gave Papelbon a two-run lead in the ninth when Jeremy Hermida doubled off Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. An error and an RBI double put Papelbon in immediate hot water but he escaped a jam that saw New York put the tying run on third base with just one out.
The victory kicked off a 30-12 stretch for the Sox. They shaved eight games off their deficit in the AL East.
2. August 9 at New York, 2-1
Papelbon again finished a doozy in the Bronx. Lester went 6 1/3 scoreless innings and Daniel Bard bridged the gap to Papelbon, who struck out Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira with the tying run on second base in the ninth.
Boston gained a split of a four-game series.
1. April 20 vs. Texas, 7-6
If there was any game that defined the Red Sox’ resiliency and ability to get production from lesser names, it was this one. McDonald, called up from Triple-A Pawtucket earlier in the day as the rash of injuries swept across the team’s outfield, marked his first ever at-bat with the team by slugging a pinch-hit, two-run shot in the eighth.
Given a chance for an encore, McDonald delivered. His shot off the Green Monster in the ninth gave the Sox a walk-off win in unlikely fashion and started a 14-7 stretch that helped erase the club’s painfully slow start.
