Final, Red Sox 2-1: Interleague play seemed like an absolute grind this year, but Boston ends it with a 10-8 record after a sweep in Houston.
Jonathan Papelbon struck out Carlos Lee looking and Matt Downs swinging before Brett Wallace singled to right.
The Red Sox closer then blew away Chris Johnson on three straight pitches to finally end it. A game with three runs that lasts over three hours…nothing like it on a holiday weekend.
Josh Beckett is the star of this one. With a season-high 11 strikeouts, he improves to 7-3 in front of friends and family.
With that, we turn our attention to Fenway Park, where Boston will be for the next seven games. It begins with a July 4 matinee against Toronto. John Lackey’s first pitch will be thrown tomorrow at around 1:35 p.m.
Thanks for tagging along today. See you Monday at the park!
Mid 9th, Red Sox 2-1: Astros fever…catch it!
Houston elects to intentionally walk Adrian Gonzalez to load the bases (despite having a runner on first), but that’s dangerous with a guy like Kevin Youkilis, who has a great eye. I understand the merits of the strategy (force all over, don’t have to pitch to Gonzalez, righty-on-righty, etc.) but your margin for error is greatly reduced.
Youkilis just drew a bases-loaded walk from Mark Melancon to push in the go-ahead run, and some of the pitches weren’t even close.
So, to recap, the Red Sox have scored two runs today on Youkilis coming home on an error and Youkilis walking with the bases loaded.
Josh Beckett, meanwhile, is now in line for the win. He deserves it. Here comes Jonathan Papelbon to try to seal up this road trip with a victory.
4:49 p.m.: Drew Sutton walked and Jacoby Ellsbury singled with one out. Dustin Pedroia is battling Astros closer Mark Melancon right now.
End 8th, 1-1: The Astros get a man to second on a single and a bunt, but Josh Beckett gets Clint Barmes and the dangerous Hunter Pence to escape.
The pitcher’s spot is up second, so that will do it for Beckett. One of his best in an already spectacular season.
Drew Sutton will hit for Beckett.
Mid 8th, 1-1: In addition to stranding a bunch of runners, the Red Sox have hit into three double plays. David Ortiz does so to end the top of the eighth and now he is out of this game.
Josh Beckett, however, is not. He will start the eighth at 92 pitches.
4:22 p.m.: Josh Reddick works a one-out walk (well, he didn’t have to do much…Sergio Escalona threw four straight balls), prompting Brad Mills to go to the bullpen again.
Here comes Wilton Lopez for the third straight game. He will face Yamaico Navarro. Oops, no it’s David Ortiz hitting for Navarro.
By the way, Darnell McDonald hit for J.D. Drew to start the inning, but Reddick stayed in against a lefty. That should signal something.
End 7th, 1-1: Josh Beckett has reached 11 strikeouts for just the second time since April of 2005, excluding one time in the postseason.
Again, that career high is 13.
Beckett is due up fifth in the eighth. His pitch count is at 92. He will continue if the Sox don’t get to him in this inning, but otherwise you will see a pinch hitter.
Mid 7th, 1-1: And so it goes.
The Red Sox waste another chance to add on some runs in the seventh.
A walk to Jacoby Ellsbury and a single by Dustin Pedroia gets things started. Adrian Gonzalez then grounds into his major league-leading 19th double play and Kevin Youkilis lines to center to leave Ellsbury at third.
That leaves Boston 1-for-11 with RISP.
End 6th, 1-1: Josh Beckett cruises through the one difficult portion of the Houston lineup, picking up his 10th strikeout of the game along the way.
Beckett’s career high for Ks is 13, accomplished in 2008 at Tampa Bay.
Mid 6th, 1-1: Brad Mills breathes his first sigh of relief after David Carpenter works around a two-out double by Jason Varitek.
It helps that Josh Beckett trails Varitek in the order. Carpenter gets Beckett swinging, which leaves the Red Sox 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Beckett has thrown just 70 pitches. If his pitch count was up there, Terry Francona might’ve considered a pinch hitter, but his righty is crusing and in great shape (although he did foul a ball off the right side of his rib cage).
End 5th, 1-1: As we warned you for the past couple of innings, the Red Sox’ wasted chances was allowing Houston to hang around, even though Josh Beckett was definitively the better pitcher so far.
With a Brett Wallace double and an Angel Sanchez single, this one is tied.
Beckett stranded Sanchez at second with his ninth strikeout, one shy of a season high.
The one positive for the Red Sox? Sanchez was hitting for starter Jordan Lyles. We now get four innings (or more) of the Houston bullpen. First up is David Carpenter.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 1-0: I could just cut and paste my last post.
The Red Sox are “dominating” this game, but keep leaving guys on and find themselves a mistake away from being in a tie game.
Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez both walked to start the fifth. Kevin Youkilis struck out on a 3-2 pitch and J.D. Drew hit into an easy double play.
Boston has left seven runners on base and is 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. All of that has taken place in the last three innings. The club’s only run scored because of a throwing error.
End 4th, Red Sox 1-0: With Jordan Lyles doing everything he can to limit the Red Sox to one run so far and with Josh Beckett just cruising, this doesn’t feel like a one-run game at all.
I think the fact that Boston will be into the Houston bullpen soon enough looms large. Beckett, meanwhile, has seven strikeouts and has thrown a tidy 56 pitches through four.
Beckett has retired 11 in a row.
Perhaps as one-sided a one-run game as you can find. That may all change soon enough.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 1-0: We gave Jordan Lyles plenty of credit early on, but we also predicted that the second time through might yield some better at-bats for the Red Sox.
That certainly has been the case. They loaded the bases in the third and did not score, but two singles and a walk loaded ’em up again in the fourth.
Then again, the Houston defense hurt Lyles in the third and it does so again in the fourth.
With the bags sacked and one out, Lyles got Jason Varitek to chop one to first and Brett Wallace had time to get Kevin Youkilis coming home. But Wallace’s throw was high and Youkilis slid in safely, before taking a cleat to his right ankle, of course. Those things just happen on a daily basis to Youkilis.
Anyway, what should’ve been the second out and perhaps even the front end of a 3-2-4 double play is the game’s first run and helps extend a second straight long inning for Lyles. He gets Josh Beckett on a popup and Jacoby Ellsbury to fly to left, but his pitch count is all the way up to 82.
The moment that phone rings in the Houston bullpen, things change dramatically.
Still, give Lyles some more credit for limiting the damage. Boston has left the bases loaded the last two innings.
End 3rd, 0-0: Josh Beckett is halfway to matching his season high for strikeouts. He gets two more in the third and has five already.
Beckett’s career high in Ks is 13. Something to keep in mind if he continues to make quick work of these Astros hitters.
Mid 3rd, 0-0: Whatever happens over the next six-plus innings, I’ll walk away impressed with Jordan Lyles.
The kid, who won’t turn 21 until October, shows some nice poise out there. He works rather quick, keeps the ball in the zone for the most part and has a confident air about him.
He also isn’t afraid to take a bit of a gamble.
That’s what Lyles did when, after walking Jason Varitek with one out, he went to second on a bunt by Josh Beckett. Actually, Varitek was out at second by plenty, but a lot of pitchers would just take the sure one. Lyles made the play so smoothly that the Astros should’ve had a double play and been out of the inning, but the relay throw was wayward and Beckett reached.
Jacoby Ellsbury followed by blooping a single to right, the first hit of the game for Boston, and Dustin Pedroia walked. Standing on the mound and staring in at Adrian Gonzalez, Lyles must’ve been thinking that this awful Astros defense had done him in. He should’ve been in the dugout three hitters earlier.
But the young righty didn’t lose his cool and got Gonzalez to fly to straightaway center, escaping a major jam against Boston’s best.
End 2nd, 0-0: Josh Beckett has stared down at his landing spot a few times after some pitches get away from him.
It didn’t impact the results in the second. Both Brett Wallace and Chris Johnson strike out and Carlos Corporan flies to center.
Beckett gets to open the third with the pitcher leading off.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Jordan Lyles has set down six straight on just 23 pitches. He has finished both innings by getting a guy swinging at something off-speed.
This game figured to be the biggest mismatch on paper, but Lyles has the stuff to dominate. You just wondered how he would handle things mentally, not having faced an offense like Boston’s.
So far, he looks about as confident as can be.
End 1st, 0-0: Things started well for Josh Beckett as he gets Michael Bourn on a rising fastball.
But Clint Barmes and Hunter Pence followed with consecutive singles. Barmes is 3-for-9 in the series, Pence 6-for-9.
Carlos Lee then ripped a hard shot that had RBI double written all over it, but Kevin Youkilis was able to snag it for the second out.
Matt Downs then popped to second and Beckett was back in the dugout unscathed.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Jacoby Ellsbury grounds to second on the third pitch of the game. He is immediately removed from the All-Star team by an angry Ron Washington.
No. That didn’t happen. Well, the “grounds to second on the third pitch of the game” part did, but Ellsbury remains an All-Star.
Still, the first out came quick and easy for 20-year-old Jordan Lyles and so did the next two, including a strikeout of Adrian Gonzalez on a pretty slider. Given how the Red Sox have jumped on Houston in the first innings this series, and how Lyles has struggled in the opening frame (9.00 ERA), this is no small development.
It might be a situation where the Sox don’t get to this guy until the second or third time through.
1:56 p.m.: Those of you wondering about Yamaico Navarro, he came up as a shortstop iniitially.
Navarro’s move to third base in the minors was done in large part to make room for Jose Iglesias. But seeing Navarro at third this spring was impressive, even if it was just infield practice at the minor league complex.
He has some nice hands and all the skills you need to man an infield spot on the left side. He may be better suited for third eventually, but he can handle short just fine.
We are just a few minutes from beginning the end of the road trip. It will be a welcome sight for Red Sox fans to see this team at Fenway Park playing an American League team tomorrow afternoon.
12:55 p.m.: For a little more on the All-Star selections, click here.
No Red Sox players are on the Final Vote list this year, so the only chance that more make it is if there is an injury, or if Jon Lester replaces one of the three AL starters lined up to go next Sunday.
It that means a lot to you, monitor the rotations with Seattle, Detroit and Tampa Bay. If any of those teams have a rainout or anything that might shuffle the rotation, Lester’s chances might be shot. If not, he is among a short list of guys that could get the call.
OK, that’s it for All-Star talk. Let’s start thinking about this series finale. It was on this mound in that exhibition game at the end of spring training that Josh Beckett seemed to put things together. He had the concussion early in spring and was somewhat up and down in Fort Myers. But he seemed to put it all together in his final tune-up, and now he’s an All-Star.
12:43 p.m.: As pointed out by the TBS crew, Justin Verlander, James Shields and Felix Hernandez are on track to start next Sunday. Each of them could need a replacement on the roster, and CC Sabathia is also lined up for that day so he may not be available as well.
Jon Lester’s chances to appear in Arizona may increase dramatically if everyone stays on turn.
12:22 p.m.: No major surprises, but plenty of smiling faces in the Red Sox clubhouse, to be sure.
Josh Beckett and Jacoby Ellsbury get voted in by the players, Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz by the fans.
More on the site in a bit.
Also, there’s this from Ortiz on his selections for the Home Run Derby.
11:41 a.m.: As we await the All-Star selection show, here is the lineup against one guy who should be representing the AL next week in Arizona:
Michael Bourn, CF
Clint Barmes, SS
Hunter Pence, RF
Carlos Lee, LF
Mike Downs, 2B
Brett Wallace, 1B
Chris Johnson, 3B
Carlos Corporan, C
Jordan Lyles, P
11:00 a.m.: As he promised last night, Terry Francona has installed Yamaico Navarro at shortstop today.
Navarro, who hit a pinch-hit homer Saturday night, played 12 games at short for the Red Sox in 2010.
He will bat seventh in this lineup:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
J.D. Drew, RF
Josh Reddick, LF
Yamaico Navarro, SS
Jason Varitek, C
Josh Beckett, P
10:39 a.m.: Just a reminder to tune to TBS at noon for the All-Star Selection Show.
Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz are shoo-ins. Josh Beckett is all but assured a nod. The intrigue will surround Jacoby Ellsbury and whether he got enough votes in the closing days to surpass Texas’ Josh Hamilton and grab a starting spot.
Even if he falls short, Ellsbury figures to get a spot when Ron Washington announces his reserves. If not, he’ll be a few lists in New England.
Perhaps Jon Lester and Dustin Pedroia find their way on the roster, too, although they are on the fringe.
We will have all the storylines posted on the site throughout the day. For more immediate news, especially if you are unable to follow the selection show, please follow me at Twitter.
Lineups for Sunday’s game should be out shortly.
8 a.m.: A nine-game interleague road trip finally comes to an end for the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon in Houston.
The club is 4-4 on the trip after a 10-4 rout of the Astros on Saturday night. Andrew Miller threw six solid innings and Dustin Pedroia, Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis each went 3-for-5.
Josh Beckett gets the nod in the series finale. It is his second start since a bout with the flu. The first one saw him give up a season-high five runs and record a season-low one strikeout in a loss at Philadelphia.
Beckett, a native of nearby Spring, Texas, has a 2.20 ERA in six career starts against Houston.
Jordan Lyles, the youngest player in the majors, makes the start for the Astros. The 20-year-old right-hander is 0-3 with a 4.75 ERA in his first six starts.
Lyles will deliver his first pitch around 2:05 p.m.
