Unearned Bonus Baseball
The Red Sox were 1-6 in extra-innings match-ups going into this game. That is why I was only moderately enthused when Dustin Pedroia tied the game in the ninth with his sacrifice fly off Will “Oh, man” Ohman.
The runs that came so easy off the Orioles bullpen in the first two games of the series were nowhere to be found in this game. The visitors squandered bases loaded opportunities in the sixth and seventh innings. Kevin Youkilis took a pitch off the forearm to lead off the tenth but the pain was for naught.
Since there were no pinatas, Pedroia’s on-field offering for play of the game was popping an orange balloon that strayed into the infield in the seventh inning. Not to be outdone, Mike Cameron made an over-the-shoulder, game-saving basket catch of Lou Montanez’s deep fly for the final out of the ninth.
John Lackey pitched well but not spectacularly: 7 innings, 7 hits, 2 earned runs, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts. His plodding pace and run-of-the-mill stuff was like Ambien. As the game wore on I commented to my friend that the teams were trying to out-bore each other, which should have given Lackey a tremendous advantage.
Sophomore southpaw Brian Matusz lasted only 5⅔ innings but notched seven strikeouts. Along with the whiffs came four bases on balls, but the first-round 2008 draftee showed a glimpse of the star he could be.
| Game 58: June 6, 2010 ∙ 11 innings | ||
| Red Sox 33-25 | 3 | L: Hideki Okajima (2-2) |
| HR: Victor Martinez (8) | ||
 Orioles16-41 | 4 | BS: Will Ohman (1) W: David Hernandez (2-5) |
| 2B: Miguel Tejada (11), Luke Scott (11), Scott Moore (1) | ||
