Well Red Sox Nation, yesterday was quite a busy day! Round two of the weekend battle with the NY Yankees took place yesterday afternoon — making up a rainout in April. I’m probably not the only one who wished this game got rained out again.
It was hot and muggy and it appeared to throw Red Sox starter, Franklin Morales, off his game. Similar to Friday night’s first inning, the Yankees jumped out to a quick lead putting up four runs on back-to-back homeruns by Nick Swisher (a 3-run shot) and Andruw Jones.
I looked at my husband (who is a Yankees fan) and said, “Wouldn’t it be funny if the Sox scored four in the bottom of the first?”
He chuckled and said, “Ah…no.” Party pooper.
There’s really not much to talk about, trust me. If you missed the game, thank your lucky stars. It was painful. Especially after the Friday night let down. Morales gave up six runs on six hits in just 3.1 innings. Catcher Kelly Shoppach talked to reporters after the game about Morales’ problems.
“He had a tough time getting the grip on the ball,” said Red Sox catcher Kelly Shoppach. “He was really hot and sweaty out there. You could see in between pitches, taking deep breaths. You know, he had a tough time getting in good pitcher’s counts. Against a team like that, you get behind, they take advantage of mistakes.”
The one bright spot? Justin Germano, called up from Pawtucket last week, came in to relieve Morales and pitched the remaining 5.2 innings, scattering five hits and allowing no additional runs while striking out seven.
Click here for the blah box score, courtesy of the Red Sox. And to make the afternoon even more blah, the Sox fell back to .500 — a place I was hoping we’d seen the last of…
Round three seemed to treat the Red Sox much better as they came alive, pounding out 17 hits and scoring nine runs to take the night cap 9-5 and leave .500 behind once again. I’m going to throw out two names here — Mauro Gomez and Pedro Ciriaco. Who? Keep reading…
The Yankees once again put a crooked number on the board in the first on a three-run home run by Mark Teixeira off Felix Doubrount. Uh oh, I thought, here we go again.
But Doubront settled down and the Red Sox offense, having been stifled in the first game, finally got their bats in working order. They squeaked out single runs in the third and fifth innings but saved the real fireworks for later.
In the bottom of the 6th, the Sox loaded the bases on an Adrian Gonzalez single, a Derek Jeter error and a Mauro Gomez single. Pedro Ciriaco hit the first pitch he saw for a bases-clearing double to the left field corner driving Yankees starter, Phil Hughes, from the game.
See? I promised you’d hear those names again. Both Gomez and Ciriaco were called up from Pawtucket this past week to fill some infield spots recently left thin due to injuries to Dustin Pedroia and Will Middlebrooks.
After Andruw Jones hit a solo shot (his third of the double header) in the top of the seventh to bring the Yanks within one, the Boston line up came back in the bottom of the inning with another barrage of runs.
Gonzalez doubled to lead off. Ryan Sweeney, fresh off a trip to the DL, launched a triple into the center field triangle scoring Gonzalez. Gomez followed with a double of his own scoring Sweeney. Ciriaco followed with yet another double, scoring pinch runner Mike Aviles. While Daniel Nava was at the plate, Ciriaco stole third and scored on a throwing error.
Mauro Gomez and Pedro Ciriaco. Remember these names. They’ll probably be sent back down to AAA once Pedroia and Middlebrooks heal, but they put on quite a show Saturday night at Fenway Park. In the end, they went a combined 7 for 9 with five RBI and 11 total bases. Ciriaco was humbled by his performance as he spoke to reporters following his great performance.
“I’ve got to take advantage of every opportunity,” said Ciriaco. “There’s a lot of players in the organization trying to be here. We play to be in this league, so I’ve got to take advantage of that.”
Oh and Adrian Gonzalez had a pretty good night too with three hits. It’s nice to see him starting to get his bat going again. He’s currently riding a 18-game hitting streak where he’s batting .377.
Click here for the Pawtucket-fueled box score, courtesy of the Red Sox. The two teams wrap up their four-game series tonight with Jon Lester trying to end the first half of the season on a positive note. The Sox need this game to save face and at least stay 7.5 games back going in the All Star break.
