Red Sox Live Blog: Things Go Awry For Josh Beckett in Fifth, Sox Fall to Bucs 9-4

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Mar 13, 2011

Red Sox Live Blog: Things Go Awry For Josh Beckett in Fifth, Sox Fall to Bucs 9-4

Final, Pirates 9-4: Chris LeRoux comes on to close things out for the Bucs, and he gets Yamaico Navarro to pop out to the catcher.

Nate Spears, who has been in all game, finally gets a hit, lining to right.

Drew Sutton thereafter lines one to third for the second out, and Spears was lucky to get back to the first base bag to avoid the double play.

Reddick strikes out swinging to end the game.

End 8th, Pirates 9-4: Lenny DiNardo is now on for the Sox, but he surrenders a leadoff double to left-center to Jason Jaramillo to start off the frame.

Josh Fields flies out deep to Reddick, and Jaramillo tags, heading to third easily.

Gorkys Hernandez then goes opposite field for a single, driving in Jaramillo to extend the lead 8-4.

A chopper to the hole by Friday is tracked down by Iglesias, but there's nothing he can do about it. Both men are safe. Ciriaco thereafter flies out to center, but Hernandez takes third on the play — runners on the corners with two outs.

Lambo thereafter grounds one back up the middle, through to the outfield, bringing in Hernandez to make it 9-4.

Atkins flies out to left to end the inning.

Mid 8th, Pirates 7-4: Daniel Nava steps in to lead off the eighth for the Sox, batting for J.D. Drew. He pops one in foul territory that looked headed into the stands down the third-base line, but Ciriaco makes a nice grab right by the seats for the first out.

Moments later, Exposito goes down on three pitches from Resop — a dominant at-bat.

Kalish prolongs the inning by drawing a walk, and he's pinch run for by Ryan Khoury.

Juan Carlos Linares then comes up to bat, and he rakes one to third, and the fielder's choice at second ends the inning.

End 7th, Pirates 7-4: Andrew Miller comes on for the Sox, and he immediately hits leadoff man Andrew Lambo on the elbow.

Miller is also hitting some pretty high marks on the gun. His last pitch was 96 mph. He gets Atkins looking on a breaking ball thereafter, one out.

Lambo runs on the 2-1 pitch, and Exposito's throw was pretty good, but high, and Lambo makes it to second — he got a good jump.

Steve Pearce then draws a walk, but Miller gets out of the inning when Josh Rodriguez sets up Jose Iglesias with a gimme double play. He converts it, 6-4-3.

Mid 7th, Pirates 7-4: The new Pirates pitcher is Chris Resop. He runs the count full to Sutton before getting him to swing and miss on a fastball away, one out.

Reddick follows that up with a groundout to second for out number two, and Resop blows one by Iglesias for the final out of the frame.

End 6th, Pirates 7-4: Bard has come on to pitch, as just about the entire defense switches up behind him.

Bard gets Gorkys Hernandez to ground out start the inning, and thereafter blows one by Brian Friday for a K, the second out.

Bard then dispatched Pedro Ciriaco with a swinging strikeout — quick inning for the flamethrower.

Mid 6th, Pirates 7-4: Hanrahan is now on the mound for the Pirates, and he gets Kalish swinging with an outside pitch.

McDonald smashes one to right center for a round-tripper, the fourth home run of the afternoon. 7-4 Bucs.

Anderson lines one to second, and Friday makes a nice play for the putout, two outs.

Spears ends the inning with a popout.

End 5th, Pirates 7-3: Beckett stays on the mound for the fifth, as Iglesias replaces Lowrie at short.

On the first pitch of the inning, Cedeno belts a homer to left center — 3-2.

Brown follows the hme run with a walk, and Andy Marte is now hitting for the pitcher.

Marte golfs a looper down the left field line, which McDonald bobbles — allowing Dusty to get to third and Marte to second. Beckett has allowed the first three batters of the inning to reach scoring position.

Beckett next hits Tabata, loading the bases and bringing Terry Francona to the mound. His pitch count is now above 75, and his day is over.

Atchison is now on the mound with the bases loaded and nobody out — not exactly the spot you want to enter the game in.

Walker lines it to right, scoring Brown from third. Marte holds on the sharply hit single, keeping the game tied, but also keeping the bases loaded, 3-3.

A fly to straightaway center gets just beyond the leap of Kalish at the center field wall, sending him to the ground. Two runs score, and Alvarez has a double, 5-3 Bucs. Kalish, though, gets up unharmed. All of the runs that have scored thus far are Beckett's.

Atchison then walks Jones on four pitches to continue the miserable frame — bases again loaded, still nobody out. Overbay follows Jones with a liner up the middle for a single. The throw is cut off, so two more score to make it 7-3.

The Sox finally record an out, as Bowker is jammed and flies to center — the runners stay at first and second.

Atchison gets Cedeno to chase a high pitch for the second out, bringing Brown back up. He walked earlier in the inning.

Brown grounds one to the hole, and Iglesias makes a nice play to get there. He throws late to second, but he likely saved a run with the rangy play.

Marte flies to left to mercifully end the inning, 7-3.

Mid 5th, Sox 3-1: Sutton hooks a soft liner over Overbay into right for a leadoff base hit.

Cameron now steps in against Karstens, and he hits one deep to center, but it is caught for out number one.

Lowrie pops one up in the infield, caught by Overbay for the second out.

Karstens falls behind Drew 3-0, eventually issuing a walk on five pitches.

He then falls behind Tek 3-1, and the captain belts one a huge distance — but foul to the right. On the next pitch, he grounds to second to end the inning.

End 4th, Sox 3-1:Beckett starts the fourth with a tapper from Jones for the first out — he's now over 50 pitches.

Beckett gets Overbay on a fastball away, looking, for Overbay's second K of the afternoon.

Beckett now has five strikeouts.

Bowker hits another one long, but this time Kalish gets there for the third out of the inning.

Mid 4th, Sox 3-1: Jeff Karstens comes on for Lincoln, who was great for the first two innings before falling apart somewhat in the third.

Karstens induces an infield popup by Kalish for the first out.

McDonald flies to left — it looked like a great swing, but it came off the end of the bat.

Anderson similarly puts a great swing on Karsten's pitch, but he gets all of it, launching a home run on a hanging breaking ball to right center. There was no doubt about it, 3-1 Sox.

Spears grounds to second on the first pitch to end the inning.

End 3rd, Sox 2-1: Beckett gets former Sox prospect Dusty Brown to ground to short, fielded easily by Lowrie.

Lincoln, who is hitting for himself despite his poor top half of the frame, lines Beckett's offering into right for a base hit — not bad for a pitcher who could've been hit for by a DH.

Beckett falss behind Tabata 3-1 before turning his attention to Lincoln with a couple of pick-off attempts — as though the pitcher would steal.

Lincoln does run when the count is full, but Beckett throws inside for ball four — runners on first and second.

Beckett induces a chopper from Walker, but it's too softly hit for two. Sutton goes to second to get the middle runner, but that's it — two outs, men on the corners.

Alvarez, the 2008 second-overall pick — who had previously been a Sox draft pick — strikes out after a long at-bat to end the inning.

Mid 3rd, Sox 2-1: Lars Anderson lines one to center on a 3-1 count for a base hit, the Sox's first of the afternoon.

Lincoln nearly picks off Anderson, but he gets back just in time.  He goes right back, and he nearly gets him again — the ball falls out of Overbay's glove, but the throw beat Anderson.

After a lengthy at-bat, Spears taps one in front of the plate — functionally a bunt, as Anderson advances to second.

Lincoln tries to pick Anderson off again — this time at second. He throws it into center field, allowing Lars to make it to third.

Sutton draws the count full — barely holding up in a 2-2 count, but the third base umpire saved him from the punchout. Thereafter, he draws the walk, putting runners on the corners with one out and the top of the order upcoming.

Cameron hits one sharply down the third-base line after a meeting on the mound. It goes all the way to the corner, landing Cameron at second and scoring both runners standing up, 2-1 Sox.

Lowrie draws a walk, putting runners on first and second as Lincoln continues to unravel. He's now thrown 50 pitches, meaning his time on the mound may not last much longer.

Drew skies one to right for the second out, bringing Varitek back up to the plate.

The captain runs the count full, but he's called out on strikes when he was half way to first base, thinking he drew a walk. The pitch looked pretty low and away. Regardless, the Sox are now in the lead.

End 2nd, Pirates 1-0: Beckett induces a soft chopper to first from Garrett Jones for the first out of the inning.

Beckett gets Overbay swinging on a changeup for the second out. The former Blue Jay, who is having a great spring, was nowhere near it.

John Bowker comes to the plate left, and he crushes a high fastball down the right-field line, just fair for a home run. 1-0 Pirates.

Beckett comes back to get Cedeno with a quick strikeout to end the inning.

Mid 2nd, 0-0: Varitek grounds to Overbay, flipped to Lincoln for the first out of the inning.

Kalish rips one foul down the first base line, but he strikes out swinging on a changeup — Lincoln has been mixing speeds well thus far, really keeping the Sox off balance.

McDonald flies to right to end the inning.

End 1st, 0-0: Beckett falls behind Tabata 2-0 before evening the count. The fifth pitch is hit in the hole between first and second, but Spears gets there and makes the putout.

Walker hits a lazy fly ball, caught easily by Kalish for the second out — that pitch was registered at 101 mph, though that's hard to believe.

Beckett gets Alvarez swinging after some nasty breaking pitches to record a 1-2-3 frame of his own.

Mid 1st, 0-0: Mike Cameron leads off the game with a bouncer to third — close play due to a bobble. Lowrie works the count full from Lincoln. On the payoff pitch, he crushes one to deep center, but Tabata gets there on the warning track.

The Pirates, apparently, aren't using the DH, but the Sox are — in the same game.

J.D. Drew goes down swinging, way out in front of a breaking ball for a 1-2-3 first for Lincoln.

1 p.m.: We're just minutes away from the first pitch.

10 a.m.: Josh Beckett will take the mound Sunday afternoon as the Red Sox travel to Bradenton to take on the Pirates.

Beckett will be making his third Grapefruit League start, having gone 0-1 with a 3.18 ERA thus far — two runs in 5.2 innings to be exact.

He'll be opposed by Brad Lincoln, who has had a successful spring thus far — allowing only one run on three hits in five innings of work in his two starts.

Many Red Sox regulars, including Adrian Gonzalez, who debuted on Saturday, are expected to stay behind in Fort Myers and enjoy a restful Sunday.

The Sox come into the game with a 9-7 league record, while the Bucs sport a 7-10 mark.

The action will commence at 1:05 p.m. on NESN.

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