Final, Red Sox 3-2: With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Carl Crawford gets the game-winning hit and salvages a piece of the series for the Red Sox.
Tim Wakefield was masterful in his first start of the season. Through 5 2/3, he allowed just two hits and no runs, but departed responsible for one runner.
Bobby Jenks then took over, and his clean-shaven look didn’t translate into new success. He had no control, and proceeded to load the bases and walk in two runs, knotting the game at two.
Felix Hernandez performed admirably, going seven and allowing two runs while striking out 10, but it wasn’t enough — thanks to Crawford’s walk-off heroics.
Bot 9th, Red Sox 3-2: Jamey wright remains on the hill for the M’s.
J.D. Drew leads off and draws the count full, but he ultimately chops it to first — one out.
Lowrie golfs one to deep left. Ichiro gets under it, but he loses it in the sun — despite his patented sunglasses. It bounces off his leg into the corner, and Lowrie makes it all the way to third. Ichiro was totally blinded by the sun.
Now, Marco Scutaro has a chance to win it. The infield is in.
Scutaro chops it to third on the first pitch — Figgins and Rodriguez nearly collided. The out is recorded and Lowrie is forced to hold at third.
Crawford grounds it sharply back at Wright. He can’t block it. It gets through the infield and Lowrie scores. SOX WIN, 3-2.
Top 9th, 2-2: Jonathan Papelbon has come on for the Sox in the 9th.
Jack Cust grounds one sharply to first. Gonzalez fields it cleanly and takes it to the bag himself for the out.
Luis Rodriguez swings at the first pitch against Papelbon. He gets under it, flying to right for the second quick out.
Papelbon blows the heater past Saunders to end the inning — seven pitches in total. The Sox will now have a chance to win it.
Bot 8th, 2-2: Jamey Wright has come on in relief of Felix Hernandez.
The final stat line for the King: 7 IP, 6H, 2ER, 10K.
Wright jams Pedroia, who one-hops it to short for the first out of the inning.
Gonzalez subsequently chops it to Wilson on the first pitch — two quick outs through the heart of the Sox order in the eighth.
After working the count full, Wright blows one by Ortiz for the final out of the inning, 1-2-3 for the Sox. We’re going to the ninth tied.
Top 8th, 2-2: Albers has continued on in the eighth. He continues his strong outing with a K of Ryan Langerhans — one out.
Miguel Olivo ropes one sharply to left, but it is right at Crawford, and he makes the catch for the second out of the inning.
Smoak comes to the plate first-pitch swinging, and he flies to center accordingly. 1-2-3 for Seattle in the eighth. Albers’ ERA is now 1.13.
Bot 7th, 2-2: Marco Scutaro leads off the Sox half of the seventh with a popout to short. Now, he’s at .179 for the campaign.
Carl Crawford bloops one into left for a base hit, his first of the day, and the first off Hernandez in four innings.
A Hernandez offering down and away gets away from Olivo, and Crawford moves over to second — he was looking like he wanted to steal as it is.
Saltalamacchia lines one to left, but right at Langerhans for the second out of the inning — bringing up the top of the order in Jacoby Ellsbury.
Ellsbury grounds one sharply towards first, and Smoak gets there. He makes the play, ending the inning and preserving the 2-2 tie.
Top 7th, 2-2: Matt Albers has come on for the Sox. Jenks went just one third, allowing one run, but also allowing one runner charged to Wakefield to cross the plate.
Albers works through the inning in a breeze. He gets Jack Wilson to foul out, Ichiro to fly to left, and Figgins to fly to center in short order.
The game remains tied heading into the bottom of the 7th.
Bot 6th, 2-2: Big Papi skies one to center on the first pitch of the inning — one out, as Hernandez has now retired nine in a row.
Drew follows him up with a soft grounder to second base — Hernandez’s streak is now at 10.
Hernandez again gets Lowrie to strike out — tough day for the fill-in third baseman. His batting average is down to a paltry .352.
Top 6th, 2-2: Here’s something you don’t see every day. Ichiro Suzuki strikes out swinging on an awful cut. Wake had him totally fooled — one out.
Wakefield continues his gem — inducing a popout by Chone Figgins. He’s now gone 5 2/3 allowing just two hits.
I jinxed him. Ryan Langerhans slaps one into right for a base hit, and Terry Francona comes out and collects Wake. His outing is over.
A clean-shaven Bobby Jenks comes on in relief. Jenks allows a line-drive base hit to left to Olivo — first and second with two out.
With a 1-2 count, Jenks sends a wild one in the dirt right at Smoak’s feet. Both runners move up in the process. Eventually, he works a walk, loading the bases.
Jenks falls behind 2-0 on Cust with the bases loaded, prompting a Curt Young visit. Jenks gets a low fastball to go for a strike. Ultimately, Jenks throws another wild pitch — ball four. Langerhans scores on the play — walked in.
Jenks runs the count full against Rodriguez with another ball in the dirt — saved well by Salty.
Jenks’ payoff pitch is wide — ball four. It’s now 2-2, as Olivo walks home. Finally, Saunders flies to left after a long at-bat — inning over.
Bot 5th, Red Sox 2-0: Hernandez, who has settled in some after his third inning issues, strikes out Ellsbury (swinging) to begin the fifth.
Felix gets ahead of Pedroia 0-2, and then he strikes out the second baseman on a pitch in the dirt. Pedroia claims he got a piece of it, but his dispute comes to no avail.
Gonzalez grounds one back to Hernandez. It deflects off his hand and is collected by Rodriguez at short. He throws out to end the inning.
Top 5th, Red Sox 2-0: Jack Cust, who has been a thorn in Wakefield’s side thus far, laces a pretty double down the left field line — the first truly well-hit ball against the knuckler.
Luis Rodriguez grounds one sharply to third. Lowrie knocks it down, diving to his left, and then throws out Rodriguez — great play. Cust was held at second on the effort.
Wakefield then gets Saunders to ground to Lowrie at third — a more routine play, though Gonzalez had to make a nice pick at first on a ball in the dirt.
Jack Wilson grounds to short, and Wake has now gone five scoreless.
Bot 4th, Red Sox 2-0: Scutaro flies to center harmlessly for the first out of the Sox half of the fourth. He’s now batting .182.
Felix gets Crawford on a breaking ball in the dirt — two out in what has been an easy fourth thus far.
He likewise dispatches with Saltalamacchia — inning over, Felix’s first truly easy inning.
Top 4th, Red Sox 2-0: Wakefield gets his first K of the day — three straight pitches down the middle against Langerhans — to start the fourth.
On the first pitch against Olivo, he forces the catcher to sky it to left — two quick outs.
Smoke strikes out swinging for K no. 2 — inning over.
Bot 3rd, Red Sox 2-0: Ellsbury takes the first pitch of the inning up the middle for a base hit.
Pedroia follows him up with a rip to left — two men on with nobody out against Hernandez.
Felix begins to dig himself out of the hole by getting Gonzalez swinging after a long battle — he’s already up to 48 pitches.
In a 2-2 count, Ortiz slams one off the Monster, driving in Ellsbury and Ortiz with the double. 2-0 Red Sox.
Drew grounds to second, but Ortiz advances to third on the play.
Hernandez strikes Lowrie out swinging to end the inning, but the damage is done.
Top 3rd, 0-0: Wakefield continues his success, getting Jack Wilson to ground out, and then getting Ichiro to do the same as he begins his second trip through the Mariners lineup.
Figgins grounds one up the middle, and Scutaro can’t quite get there. It glances off his glove and goes into center — would’ve been tough to get Figgins anyway. Scutaro, though, is given an error.
Figgins takes off for second, but the Sox are ready with a pitch-out. Salty guns him down easily for the final out of the inning.
Bot 2nd, 0-0: Scutaro makes decent contact, but he flies out to right center for the first out of the inning. He’s batting just .189 for the year.
Hernandez gets Crawford to ground to first, but he tweaks his leg covering the bag on the putout.
Saltalamacchia gets ahead of Felix 3-0, but ultimately flies to left to end the inning.
Top 2nd, 0-0: Lowrie makes a nice spinning play on a sharp grounder in the hole to get Olivo for the first out of the second.
Justin Smoak grounds to Pedroia for the second out of the inning as Wakefield continues to settle in well.
Finally, the Mariners get a baserunner. Cust draws a walk, with ball four getting away from Salty.
Rodriguez grounds one into the hole between first and second. Pedroia gets there on the grass, but he rushes the throw. It’s well wide of Gonzalez, and Rodriguez is safe. Cust advances to third on the error.
Wakefield gets out of the mini-jam. Saunders flies harmlessly to center — inning over.
Bot 1st, 0-0: Felix gets off to a Felix-esque start, striking out Ellsbury (swinging) in a dominant at-bat.
Pedroia, however, makes an early statement — proving Felix isn’t invincible with a two-strike base hit to right.
Gonzalez gets ahead 1-0 and then lines one to left — pretty swing from the Sox first baseman, who is now working on an eight game hitting streak.
Papi battles for seven pitches against Hernandez, but the King gets him on a sinking change in a full count — two Ks on two outs so far.
Felix again shows he’s human. He issues J.D. Drew a walk — on four pitches — to load the bases.
Lowrie runs the count deep against Hernandez, but Felix gets a call on a pitch on the outside corner to end the inning, striking out the side.
Still, the Sox made him work — he threw 27 pitches in the frame.
Top 1st, 0-0: Wakefield gets Ichiro on a lazy fly to left on the second pitch of the game — a good start for Wake.
His battle with Figgins yields a similar result. After getting ahead 0-2, Wakefield forces a soft flyout to left from Figgins, who is batting just .214.
Wakefield induces a third soft fly — this time to right — off of Langerhans’ bat, and the Sox are off to a good start.
Now, they face King Felix.
12:45 p.m.:
Lineups behind Tim Wakefield and Felix Hernandez will be as follows:
Boston Red Sox
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
David Ortiz, DH
J.D. Drew, RF
Jed Lowrie, 3B
Marco Scutaro, SS
Carl Crawford, LF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Seattle Mariners
Ichiro Suzuki, RF
Chone Figgins, 3B
Ryan Langerhans, LF
Miguel Olivo, C
Justin Smoak, 1B
Jack Cust, DH
Luis Rodriguez, SS
Michael Saunders, CF
Jack Wilson, 2B
6 a.m.: After it looked like the Red Sox were hitting full stride, they’ve gone off the tracks a bit, losing three of their last four, including their first two against the Seattle Mariners. Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield will make his first start of 2011 on Sunday, filling in for Clay Buchholz, who left Fenway Park early due to illness. Wake will be greeted by the defending Cy Youn Award winner, Felix Hernandez.
The Red Sox offense sputtered again in Saturday’s loss, relinquishing multiple opportunities to score. Their best opportunity came in the fifth inning when they had the bases loaded and no outs, but they still couldn’t push across a single run.
The Sox look to turn things around in the series finale, though, with the crafty veteran taking on the young stud.
