Final, Red Sox 7-5: The Astros get the tying run to the plate in the form of Carlos Lee, which is about all you can ask for if you are on their side of things.
Lee hit a soft liner past Papelbon that died around second base, allowing Dustin Pedroia to scoop and throw to first for the final out.
Boston falls behind four runs and gets outhit 13-8 but manages to pull this one out with a massive explosion in the seventh.
That’s the first set of consecutive wins since June 19-20.
The Sox will try to make it three in a row with Andrew Miller on the mound tomorrow night. This one is a 7:05 start, perhaps bumped up an hour to account for the presence of the Houston bullpen.
Mid 9th, Red Sox 7-5: The Red Sox have wasted bases-loaded opportunities in two straight innings after Josh Reddick chops one to first base to end the ninth.
Since allowing nine runs in a stretch of 6 1/3 innings, Jonathan Papelbon has thrown 4 2/3 scoreless frames over five outings.
He is on to try to pick up his 16th save and third of the road trip. The Sox closer will face the top of the Astros order.
11:08 p.m.: If patience is a virtue, then Brad Mills is an incredibly virtuous man. How can you not blow your top dealing with this kind of “relief” pitching.
After getting the first two outs of the ninth, Enerio Del Rosario walks three straight batters over the course of five hours, 38 minutes.
And so we have another pitching change. David Carpenter is the sixth Houston pitcher of the night.
He gets to face the sizzling Josh Reddick with the bases full.
End 8th, Red Sox 7-5: Two strikeouts in another perfect inning for Daniel Bard.
That is Bard’s third straight flawless outing. He has not allowed a run since May 23, throwing 15 scoreless in that span.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 7-5: You get a strong sense that the Red Sox are in control here. They have a legit bullpen, whereas the Astros’ is a mess.
However, if Houston is going to mount any kind of rally in the final two frames, the fact that Boston wasted a chance in the top of the eighth could loom large.
Marco Scutaro hit into a 5-4-3 double play to end the frame. It came after Del Rosario walked Darnell McDonald to load ’em up.
To think that McDonald, struggling to stay above .100 all year, has been hit by a pitch and walked by two different Houston relievers. That says it all.
Daniel Bard will work the eighth.
10:41 p.m.: This game had some nice pace to it at one point. With the Astros trotting up a no-name reliever every five minutes, we’ll hit Saturday morning before it’s over.
After Fernando Abad gets David Ortiz swinging on a changeup, Brad Mills has turned to Enerio Del Rosario (of course!) to get out of a jam in the eighth.
Abad walked Jarrod Saltalamacchia and gave up a single to Josh Reddick before getting Ortiz.
End 7th, Red Sox 7-5: One pitch, one out for Franklin Morales. That ends the seventh and gives Boston another crack at this miserable bullpen.
10:27 p.m.: Matt Albers gives up a two-out single. Terry Francona calls on Franklin Morales to get the final out of the seventh.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 7-5: Ten men come to the plate, six of them get hits and one of them gets hit.
Here’s a rough recap if you missed it.
J.D. Drew and Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled. Josh Reddick then dropped a bloop double to left to make it 5-2 and force Brad Mills to turn to his horrid bullpen.
Sergio Escalona gives up an RBI single to Drew Sutton and then hits a batter to load the bases.
After a Marco Scutaro strikeout, Dustin Pedroia ties it with a single to right. As Pedroia runs down the line, he turns and screams at Laz Diaz, the home plate umpire. Pedroia had hit a ball low in the zone, exactly where Diaz had called a strike a pitch before. Presumably, Pedroia was telling him in no uncertain terms that if you’re going to make me swing at garbage like that, I’m going to get a hit.
Adrian Gonzalez followed with a two-run double and just like that the Sox were on top.
Matt Albers will work the seventh, and then you can go to your stoppers.
10:07 p.m.: This one has gotten ugly in a heartbeat for the Astros. Following the Reddick double, Drew Sutton rips an infield single to score Jarrod Saltalamacchia and make it 5-3.
Darnell McDonald comes up in the pitcher’s spot and promptly gets hit by a pitch.
Bases loaded, no outs and the Houston lead now just two. Marco Scutaro is stepping in to face Wilton Lopez, who sprints in from the pen like a mad man. Let’s see if that attitude carries over.
10:01 p.m.: We make the obvious statement that the Astros would’ve loved to see Bud Norris get two more economical innings.
He doesn’t even get one out in the seventh. Singles by J.D. Drew and Jarrod Saltalamacchia and a double by Josh Reddick (bloop job barely fair to left) scores a run and sends Norris to the showers.
It’ll be up to a shaky bullpen to nip this one in the bud if Houston is going to hang on here. First up is Sergio Escalona to face Drew Sutton.
End 6th, Astros 5-1: Dan Wheeler does a good job of getting his two men and keeping this one a four-run game.
Bud Norris is at 95 pitches starting the seventh. The Astros would love to get two more out of him.
9:46 p.m.: Win No. 198 will have to wait. Again.
Tim Wakefield was not fooling many Astros tonight. Another double by Clint Barmes and then an RBI single by the pitcher Bud Norris makes it 5-1 and chases Wakefield with just one out in the sixth.
Former Astro Dan Wheeler is on to clean it up.
The 11 hits given up by Wakefield is his highest total since June 25, 2010, at San Francisco.
Mid 6th, Astros 4-1: Dustin Pedroia has two more walks tonight, giving him 58 on the year. He will pass his career high in that category before the trade deadline.
Kevin Youkilis has three more strikeouts tonight, giving him 64. That puts him on a career-high pace as well.
In between, Adrian Gonzalez continued his little slide by hitting into a double play for the 18th time. That ties him with Torii Hunter of the Angels for the major league lead.
End 5th, Astros 4-1: It’s 4-1 after a Carlos Lee RBI double, but it would be 5-1 if not for a leaping grab by Marco Scutaro to finish the inning.
Angel Sanchez started the inning and moved to second on a wild pitch. One out later, Lee lined a bullet into the corner in left to score Sanchez.
Lee is now 11-for-27 (.407) with seven RBIs against Wakefield.
Scutaro went high into the air to rob Brett Wallace of a hit with Lee on third, ending the inning.
Mid 5th, Astros 3-1: Bud Norris’ only strikeout of the fifth (his ninth overall) comes when Tim Wakefield fouls a bunt attempt.
We made reference to the Houston bullpen and the rising pitch count of Norris. His high for the year is 116. He threw 123 in one start last season.
Norris will begin the sixth at 84.
End 4th, Astros 3-1: Two straight 1-2-3 innings for Tim Wakefield and what had the look of a nutty game early on has settled down.
Bud Norris gets to face the bottom of the order in the fifth. With Josh Reddick and Drew Sutton part of that package, I’m not so sure that’s a good thing.
Mid 4th, Astros 3-1: Wow.
Bud Norris.
The Astros right-hander has struck out the side in two straight innings. There was one walk sprinkled in there, but he is pumping it in right now.
The last of that run may have been the most impressive. Norris started Jarrod Saltalamacchia off with a slider that had the catcher out in front.
He then got Salty to foul off one fastball and then had him stare at another on the black at 96. Good stuff right there.
Norris is in a groove, but is at 70 pitches. Houston’s bullpen is the worst in the NL based on ERA, so a few more quick Ks like that will help them out.
End 3rd, Astros 3-1: Tim Wakefield needed an inning like that. He gets the Astros in order, with a diving stop by Adrian Gonzalez offering some assistance.
Wakefield will get to face the light-hitting battery of Carlos Corporan and Bud Norris to begin the fourth, which should help.
Mid 3rd, Astros 3-1: Strikeout. Strikeout. Walk. Strikeout.
That’s the inning for Bud Norris.
We mentioned earlier that Norris is a very good pitcher at home. Having a lead to work with will only help his cause. Based purely on the matchups, this figured to be the Astros’ best chance to win a game in this series. So far, things are looking very good for the hosts.
End 2nd, Astros 3-1: Being a bad team often goes far beyond just not pitching or hitting well. It involves things like what Clint Barmes did in the second.
Barmes led off the inning with a double to left-center field that just missed begin a home run. He then broke for third on contact on a tapper that Tim Wakefield snagged.
The Sox got Barmes in an easy rundown, but he didn’t even stay in it long enough for the other runner to get to second.
No matter.
After a bunt by the pitcher, the Astros strung together three straight hits to score two runs. Michael Bourn had the first, a sharp single to put runners on the corners. Angel Sanchez, the former Red Sox infielder, then surprised the entire park by dropping down a bunt toward third that scored another.
Hunter Pence then improved to 2-for-2 with an RBI double. If not for the Barmes mistake, Wakefield might still be out there.
The Sanchez bunt was a beauty. It came on the first pitch of the at-bat. Kevin Youkilis was deep at third. Wakefield isn’t the fastest off the mound. By the time Youkilis fielded it he didn’t have a play anywhere.
Mid 2nd, 1-1: The big factor in Josh Reddick’s resurgence is his pitch selection. He has shown an improved ability to work deeper counts, and to comfortably hit in those situations.
In the past, he was often too eager early in at-bats. Or, if he lasted a few pitches, he would not hit well deep in the count.
Reddick just worked a nine-pitch walk against Bud Norris with two outs in the second. It is his fifth walk against just four strikeouts so far. He had just three walks and 32 strikeouts between 2009 and 2010.
Kid’s grown up.
End 1st, 1-1: Don’t say we didn’t warn you about Michael Bourn’s potential impact on this series.
It was rather immediate. Bourn singled on the first pitch from Tim Wakefield, stole second on the fourth, moved to third on a groundout and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Hunter Pence.
Wakefield gave up two more hits before finally escaping on his 21st pitch of the frame.
Mid 1st, Red Sox 1-0: Marco Scutaro was one of the more valuable members of this team last year, in large part because of the way he stepped into the void atop the order and performed well.
Scutaro hit .282 with 11 homers as a leadoff hitter in 2010. He is batting 1.000 with one home runs as a leadoff hitter in 2011 after hammering a Bud Norris fastball over the wall in left.
Norris got the next three, including strikeouts of Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis. Gonzalez is in his first mini-slump in some time. He has one hit in his last 13 at-bats.
8:07 p.m.: Marco Scutaro takes ball one from Bud Norris. We are under way.
7:30 p.m.: The Astros have one of the worst rotations in baseball from a statistical perspective. A quick glance at what Bud Norris has done reveals a silver lining for them, at least tonight.
Norris has been a significantly better hitter at home as opposed to on the road.
Just twice in 10 starts at Minute Maid Park has an opponent scored as much as four runs against Norris, never more. He has allowed one or no runs in half of those 10 outings.
Overall, the right-hander has a 2.35 ERA at home, where he has held opponents to a .208 average.
6:52 p.m.: There is a chance David Ortiz gets another start at first base and Adrian Gonzalez another start in right tomorrow, according to word out of Houston.
The first time the Sox tried that it was rather uneventful, and it didn’t really change much in terms of the offensive output.
But with the outfield situation a day-to-day ordeal (Drew black eye, Cameron DFA, Ellsbury illness, McDonald slump, Crawford DL), Gonzalez may be about the most sure thing they have going for them right now.
6:10 p.m.: If you’ve been in a baseball clubhouse, you can see how an illness might spread. A lot of stuff going on, sweaty clothes being thrown around.
Particularly at Fenway, where the quarters are cramped, the place can have somewhat of a less-than-clean feel to it.
Not sure if Jacoby Ellsbury got what Kevin Youkilis and Marco Scutaro had, or if he has more of a Josh Beckett strain going on.
The grind of the schedule also contributes to stuff like this. Players are operating on fumes at times, sleeping on planes, waking up at all hours. Can’t be good for an immune system.
That sort of helter-skelter lifestyle is at the forefront of the lives of the Red Sox right now. They are in the early stages of one of the wackier portions of their schedule. Starting Wednesday in Philadelphia, they have seven straight games with different start times. Here is the rundown:
7:05, 1:05, 8:05, 7:05, 2:05, 1:35 (in first game back at Fenway, no less!) and 7:10.
Without dissecting the entire schedule, it’s safe to say there are no other stretches quite like this, and I wouldn’t be completely surprised to see some lethargic play early in that homestand.
5:39 p.m.: Uh-oh, the bug is back. Jacoby Ellsbury has been scratched from the Red Sox lineup with an illness.
Here is the new configuration:
Marco Scutaro, SS
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
J.D. Drew, RF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Josh Reddick, CF
Drew Sutton, LF
Tim Wakefield, P
If Ellsbury is unable to come off the bench, it would be the first game he has missed all year.
5:01 p.m.: Sorry for the delay in the lineups, folks. I was busy working on my Texas Two-Step. I plan on pasting in a video of my efforts for the seventh inning stretch.
You will be pleased to know that Kevin Youkilis is back after missing a game with a sore left foot. Guy just soldiers on, doesn’t he?
Here are the lineups:
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
J.D. Drew, RF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Josh Reddick, LF
Marco Scutaro, SS
Tim Wakefield, P
Michael Bourn, CF
Angel Sanchez, 2B
Hunter Pence, RF
Carlos Lee, LF
Chris Johnson, 3B
Brett Wallace, 1B
Clint Barmes, SS
Carlos Corporan, C
Bud Norris, P
8 a.m.: Tim Wakefield will take another stab at career win No. 198 when he starts Friday night against the lowly Astros in Houston.
Wakefield started strong in his prior attempt, but ran into one bad inning in the fourth and suffered the loss in Pittsburgh. That kept him three wins from reaching the 200-win milestone.
When Wakefield steps to the mound at Minute Maid Park, it will mark the 41st ballpark he has pitched in during his long career. The only time he has ever pitched in Houston was in 1993, when, as a member of the Pirates, he made a start in the Astrodome.
Boston is hoping to have Kevin Youkilis back in the lineup. The third baseman sat out Thursday’s win in Philadelphia the day after fouling a ball off his left foot. If Youkilis is unable to go, either Drew Sutton or Yamaico Navarro will get the nod at third.
Bud Norris, perhaps the best starter on a rather poor staff, gets the call for Houston. He owns a 2.35 ERA in 10 starts at home this year.
First pitch is 8:05 p.m.
