Harm City
Adrian Beltre can’t blame the snakes in the grass at Fenway for his poor play at Camden Yards. The third baseman compounded Darnell McDonald’s initial error on Miguel Tejada’s liner to lead off the home half of the fourth by misplaying Ty Wigginton’s sharp grounder. With none out and two on, Beltre played the bounding ball to the side to facilitate a double play but the sphere shot past him. Tejada scored the first run of the game; when he crossed the plate the camera caught John Lackey yelling a profanity as the pitcher backed up home.
That unearned run was the difference in yet another extra innings one-run affair.
On the offensive side of the ball Beltre had a 3-for-5 showing but neither scored nor drove in a run. He led off the fifth with a single but was the final out when he slid past second base on Marco Scutaro’s strikeout. The Red Sox third baseman also led off the seventh with a single but second umpire Chad Fairchild ruled that Beltre interfered with Wigginton’s attempted double play. Replays showed that Beltre reached up while slithering over the keystone sack, but the maneuver was nothing outré. It was just baseball.
“I wish they called them like that when I was playing,” remarked Jerry Remy.
J.D. Drew’s launched two homers, one in the second to bring his team within a run and another in the eighth to put his team ahead, 4-3. With the Orioles’ offensive incompetence and the Red Sox relief acuity, the visitors seemed well on their way to a victory.
Tejada responded by sending Daniel Bard’s inside fastball into the stands in the bottom of the eighth. The corner infielder also knocked in the winning run with a grounder up the middle.
Even though Boston isn’t playing great, it could be worse. The club could be at the end of April celebrating its fifth win of the season as if it were a walk-off win in Game 7 of the World Series.
| Game 23: April 30, 2010 ∙ 10 innings | ||
| Red Sox 11-12 | 4 | BS: Daniel Bard (3) L: Ramon Ramirez (0-1) |
| HR: J.D. Drew – 2 (4), Dustin Pedroia (6) | ||
 Orioles5-18 | 5 | H: Will Ohman (4), Jason Berken (1) BS: Jim Johnson (3) W: Matt Albers (1-3) |
| 2B: Nick Markakis (10), Adam Jones (4) HR: Miguel Tejada (4) | ||
