1-800-54-GIANT
Who knew Darnell McDonald picked his jersey number 54 as a mnemonic for his favorite windshield repair company Giant Glass? The outfielder’s third-inning home run cleared the left field wall and shattered the rear window of a Toyota Camry with Rhode Island tags parked in the lot next to Gold’s Gym. I hope he got Dennis Drinkwater’s digits; there has been no sweeter marketing synergy since David Ortiz named is son D’Angelo around the time he had a deal with the sandwich chain.
McDonald’s four-bagger also broke the scoreless tie. The sheer spectacle of the shot even overshadowed Torii Hunter’s sensational snare of Adrian Beltre’s fly ball in the bottom of the second. Hunter reached over the Red Sox bullpen’s wall, nearly tipping into it as he robbed the Red Sox third baseman of a homer. Beltre was so upset he ripped off his helmet, not even thinking about how vulnerable it would make him to a head rub.
Jered Weaver is the American League leader in strikeouts, no small feat for pitcher facing the loaded lineups in the junior circuit. Last night the hurler didn’t have his ace arsenal: 5 innings pitched, 6 hits, 6 earned runs, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts.
Four of those earned runs came courtesy of Ryan Kalish’s fourth-inning grand slam. Weaver didn’t throw a particularly bad pitch; the ball was low and away. Kalish just reached down to golf the ball into the Red Sox bullpen far out of Hunter’s reach to extend the lead and notch his first major league grand slam.
Clay Buchholz out-dueled Weaver: 7 innings pitched, 5 hits, no runs, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts. With last night’s performance the Red Sox starter is the American League’s leader in earned run average and puns on his name.
| Game 120: August 17, 2010 | ||
| Angels 60-60 | 0 | L: Jered Weaver (11-8) |
| 2B: Bobby Abreu (32) | ||
 Red Sox68-52 | 6 | W: Clay Buchholz (14-5) |
| 2B: Marco Scutaro (29), David Ortiz (25), Victor Martinez (26), Mike Lowell (9) HR: Darnell McDonald (8), Ryan Kalish (2) | ||
