Final, Red Sox 4-0: Andrew Miller survives six walks to throw 5 2/3 scoreless innings and is backed up by another marvelous effort by the bullpen, for which you cannot say enough right now. Just shutdown stuff all around.
We cannot leave out out Jacoby Ellsbury, who had two solo homers, and Adrian Gonzalez, who was 4-for-5 and scored a run.
That gives Boston a 4-2 record on the homestand and, for now, a two-game lead in the American League East.
The Sox get a day off to recover from the heat, then jump right back into it Friday night at Fenway at what should be a stifling night against the Seattle Mariners.
Look for more coverage on the site in the coming hours leading up to that contest, and be sure to jump into the live blog early that hot afternoon.
Mid 9th, Red Sox 4-0: You gotta love Adrian Gonzalez.
Not only did he just record his fourth four-hit game of the season, but he did his weather-beaten teammates a favor by trying to stretch a single into a double.
Gonzalez was an easy out at second. Testing the arm of Nick Markakis can result in such things. When you’re as slow as Gonzalez and just rounding first when Markakis fields, it’s a near certainty.
Jonathan Papelbon is on in another non-save situation. Is it me or has he been in a ton of these this season? I’ll look it up…back in a second.
OK, I’m back. Yep, Papelbon has been in 22 save situations against 18 non-save situations. Last year, those numbers were 45 and 20, respectively.
End 8th, Red Sox 4-0: Teams should be given one pass each game, a moment where they can just forgo an inning or a play and concede something to the other team.
Why go through the effort against Daniel Bard? You’re only risking strained obliques, torn hammies or whatever can happen when you ground weakly to second and try to beat it out.
Baltimore appeared to make it through the eighth without any muscle pulls, but it didn’t do squat against Bard, who got two easy outs on the ground and another in the air.
Bard’s scoreless streak is now at 22 1/3 innings. He has 21 straight scoreless outings, which is now a new team record. He had been tied with Ugueth Urbina, who had 20 outings in a row without allowing a run in 2002.
An absolute weapon.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 4-0: I’ve pulled no punches this series in describing Mark Worrell’s wild delivery, but it was rather effective in the eighth.
Worrell inherited a bases-loaded, no-outs situation and set down all three men he faced. If Baltimore was going to have any shot in this one, that effort was imperative.
Daniel Bard is jogging on with a 21 2/3 scoreless streak in his pocket.
3:11 p.m.: Mark Hendrickson has just about spoiled the Orioles’ chances of coming back.
Hendrickson allowed a single to Adrian Gonzalez (3-for-4), a double to Kevin Youkilis and then back-to-back walks to Josh Reddick and Carl Crawford.
Walking Reddick in a lefty on lefty situation is notable. Same with Crawford. Both are free-swingers with better success against righties, Reddick’s recent success against southpaws notwithstanding. Shows how ineffective Hendrickson was right there.
Anyway, Crawford gets an RBI for his walk. There are no outs. Buck Showalter has turned to the always interesting Mark Worrell in an effort to keep this one from getting away.
End 7th, Red Sox 3-0: Matt Albers needed 13 pitches to get four big outs, finishing his perfect seventh with a strikeout of J.J. Hardy.
There were some behind-the-scene rumblings that it was Albers’ fist-pump upon finishing an inning against the Orioles that led to the David Ortiz-Kevin Gregg incident. That perhaps the O’s were miffed at the Albers celebration in a one-sided game.
Regardless, it is rather apparent that Albers loves getting the best of his former team, which let him walk in December.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 3-0: Adrian Gonzalez was one of the first to have his name tossed into the early MVP talk.
Dustin Pedroia has received some attention in that regard with his recent all-around play.
Jacoby Ellsbury may be right there when it’s all said and done.
We know he’s played very good defense. His average is at .316. He’s second in the AL in steals and third in runs.
And he now has 15 home runs after launching his second of the day. Considering Ellsbury was one of those who suffered through an April swoon, it’s pretty remarkable where his numbers are right now.
End 6th, Red Sox 2-0: Terry Francona’s job, or any manager’s job, becomes that much easier when the bullpen is as good as Boston’s is right now.
It not only gives Francona confidence to go to anyone out there, but he can manipulate games in a much smoother way knowing he has a safety net.
Matt Albers gets his man to finish the sixth with the tying runs on base. Albers will start the seventh. Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon are very rested. Pretty much how you draw it up, which gives Francona much less to worry about.
2:39 p.m.: Andrew Miller got the first two outs of the sixth before Derrek Lee singled on a 3-1 pitch and Mark Reynolds drew a walk.
With it feeling like the surface of the sun out there, and with Miller up over 100 pitches, that’s quite enough.
Terry Francona has called upon former Oriole Matt Albers to get a big out here.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 2-0: Thanks to another hit by Josh Reddick and a 3-2 count to Carl Crawford, the Red Sox had a chance to initiate some things with no outs in the sixth.
Reddick broke for second as Jake Arrieta threw a slider to Crawford, but the Red Sox left fielder first swung through the pitch for the first out and then stepped in front of catcher Craig Tatum. That’s an easy interference call, and the second out.
Marco Scutaro then grounded to shortstop on the very next pitch.
It’s not too often you get three outs with two pitches, but Arrieta did there and he remains in pretty good shape.
End 5th, Red Sox 2-0: The Orioles have a hit! They still don’t have a run.
Craig Tatum knocked a ball up the middle for a single with one out in the fifth. J.J. Hardy followed with a liner to right and Nick Markakis drove one into the gap in right-center that Jacoby Ellsbury tracked down.
Miller’s pitch count, once a significant issue, is at a pretty manageable 81. There is a day off tomorrow, so everyone is available. All the big guns have been rested this series.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 2-0: To have a lengthy hitting streak, you need a little fortune.
Dustin Pedroia’s is now at a career-high 18, but the last two games have seen him reach on two very weak infield hits, both to third base.
Looks like a line drive in the box score, as they say.
Pedroia later stole second base, his 18th steal in 21 attempts, one of the many categories in which he is excelling this year. He is left at second when Jake Arrieta gets Adrian Gonzalez on a humpback liner to third and Kevin Youkilis on a fly to center.
End 4th, Red Sox 2-0: When the Red Sox began the Andrew Miller era, innings like the fourth are what they hoped to see all the time.
Miller just threw nine pitches in the inning, striking out both Derrek Lee and Mark Reynolds. Miller has yet to allow a hit. With a pitch count of 69, there’s no chance in heck that he lasts long enough to flirt with history, but things are looking up since that rocky second inning.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 2-0: So much talk about right field these days. Josh Reddick? J.D. Drew? Carlos Beltran?
Quietly, your left fielder has returned looking pretty darn good.
Carl Crawford is 2-for-2 with a stolen base in this one. He followed a Reddick single with a double into the corner in right, setting up an RBI groundout by Jason Varitek.
If Crawford gets hot, that might influence the thought process in the Beltran situation. While right field has been very unproductive, it was amplified by Crawford’s struggles.
End 3rd, Red Sox 1-0: Andrew Miller issues another walk, his fifth, but that’s all in the third.
If the Orioles can figure out how to get a hit off of him, they might actually make him pay for the lack of control.
Miller’s allowed just three hits in his last seven innings vs. Baltimore. In a start against them in 2009, his last encounter before the start vs. the O’s in Fenway Park two weeks ago, he gave up one hit in seven innings.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 1-0: A few people said I was crazy when I hinted that Jacoby Ellsbury could wind up leading this team in home runs.
Well, David Ortiz isn’t picking up any right now, and neither is Adrian Gonzalez. Ellsbury, meanwhile, continues his impressive power display with his 14th of the year one out into the third.
Ellsbury moves ahead of Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia with that blast, his fifth in 11 games. Gonzalez is next at 17, Ortiz leading the way with 19.
Gonzalez did single later in the frame, giving him his first multi-hit effort of the second half.
End 2nd, 0-0: The Orioles did not score a run in the second, but they have put a dent in Andrew Miller’s effort.
Miller walked three in a 26-pitch inning on a day in which he wants to get into the dugout as fast as possible. Give him credit for getting a 4-6-3 double play to escape the jam, but situations like that will lead to runs eventually.
Great turn by Marco Scutaro on the DP. He first tried to sidestep the oncoming runner, but was still forced to jump and throw all in one motion. Fortunately, the catcher was running down the line to first so there was time for all that.
Miller has thrown 45 pitches, 35 of them fastballs. Just 18 of those heaters have been strikes.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Carl Crawford is 3-for-10 with two steals and an RBI in the series, not an awful way to come back from the DL.
He singled and swiped second in the second, but was left right there by a quick-working Jake Arrieta, who must have visions of drinking a 32 oz. Gatorade and staring at the clubhouse ceiling. It be hot.
End 1st, 0-0: The first inning is often an issue for Andrew Miller. He owns a career 7.43 ERA in the opening frame.
Miller did walk a man in the first, but he also recorded his first strikeout of a position player in over 12 innings, dating to the early portions of his start in Houston well before the break.
The lefty threw 12 of his 19 pitches for strikes. That’s a bit better than his last two outings, during which he walked nine and failed to record a K.
Mid 1st, 0-0: In his first at-bat as a designated hitter with the Red Sox, Adrian Gonzalez grounds a single into center field. Perhaps a day of just focusing on hitting can help him snap out of his funk.
That was all the Red Sox managed in the first, and their mini-funk persists. Since their eight-run eighth on Monday night, they’ve managed two runs in 11 innings.
Blow this team up, Theo!!!
12:37 p.m.: With the temperature at 92 and the sun and humidity making it feel much warmer, Jake Arrieta has thrown a first-pitch strike to Jacoby Ellsbury.
12:01 p.m.: It is now afternoon, roughly 34 minutes before Jake Arrieta throws his first pitch, and the real-feel temperature in Baltimore is 100.
Right now Terry Francona is in a sit-down with Andrew Miller, saying things like “Drink your fluids, son.”
Miller is a Florida native and pitched at North Carolina in college before career stops in Jacksonville, Miami, Jupiter, New Orleans and good old Zebulon, North Carolina (not in that order). He’s no stranger to stifling conditions, but this will be rather extreme.
No shade on the mound today.
11:24 a.m.: It’s very possible that Andrew Miller is pitching for a job right now. With Jon Lester due back and Kyle Weiland coming off a serviceable start, the Red Sox would want to see a vast improvement from Miller before using him much going forward.
That said, it was just one bad start. He was solid, if not outstanding, in his prior four. Miller will have a chance to bounce back against this lineup:
J.J. Hardy, SS
Nick Markakis, RF
Adam Jones, CF
Matt Wieters, DH
Derrek Lee, 1B
Mark Reynolds, 3B
Nolan Reimold, LF
Robert Andino, 2B
Craig Tatum, C
The man to watch for is Reynolds, who was 3-for-4 last night. The O’s third baseman is 4-for-7 with two doubles and three walks vs. Miller, good for a mighty 1.557 OPS. The rest of the lineup is 6-for-29 (.207) vs. the lefty.
10:10 a.m.: Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve heard that a heat wave is upon us. Today’s game in Baltimore will be shrouded in the mess, and it will have everyone on hand on high alert.
Temperatures are expected to soar into the mid-90s during the game and could approach 100 on the back end of it. Humidity will be high, which takes things to another level.
We saw Roy Halladay, the bionic ace of the Philadelphia Phillies, leave a game in Chicago a few days ago due to heat exhaustion. The heat index then was 103. It is expected to be around 105 in Baltimore.
Keep an eye on Andrew Miller and Jake Arrieta, as well as the catchers. Home plate umpires seem to always have issues with heat under their masks and protective equipment.
9:27 a.m.: Everyone has been watching for Friday, the opener of the upcoming homestand for the Red Sox, for an indication as to how Terry Francona is going to handle the Josh Reddick/J.D. Drew situation.
With David Ortiz suspended this series, Francona hasn’t had to make a choice, rotating the DH among the outfielders and keeping both Reddick and Drew in the lineup.
But today, with Adrian Gonzalez getting the nod at DH and a right-hander on the mound, the manager has turned to Reddick over Drew, and who can blame him.
Reddick is 4-for-8 with a home run, a double and three runs scored in this series and carries a .367 average into today’s festivities. Drew, seemingly healthy, will begin this one on the bench.
Here is the lineup against Jake Arrieta:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, DH
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Josh Reddick, RF
Carl Crawford, LF
Marco Scutaro, SS
Jason Varitek, C
Yamaico Navarro, 3B
6 a.m.: The Red Sox turn to Andrew Miller in the finale of a six-game road trip Wednesday afternoon in Baltimore.
Boston is 3-2 on the trip after a 6-2 loss to the Orioles on Tuesday night. The other loss came with Miller on the mound Friday in Tampa Bay, and it wasn’t pretty.
Miller gave up seven runs on five hits and five walks in just 2 2/3 innings that night. He has walked nine and struck out none in his last two starts, the first of which was a rather uneven win over Baltimore at Fenway Park on July 7.
Baltimore’s starter that day was right-hander Jake Arrieta, who gets the nod again Wednesday. He gave up five runs in 4 1/3 innings opposite Miller in their first encounter.
Arrieta’s first pitch is scheduled for 12:35 p.m.
