Mess in Texas
They certainly do do things bigger in Texas. The Red Sox had a meltdown as they did in Toronto, but this time they blew a bigger lead and extended the agony over eleven innings.
J.D. Drew knocked in two four-baggers but had an unusually poor day with the glove. In the bottom of the seventh Nelson Cruz lofted a fly ball to the right field warning track that Drew misplayed. Immediately after Cruz’s double Red Sox killer Bengie Molina roped a double over Drew’s leap, a hit that plated Cruz and rendered the score 9-8. Still in favor of the visitors, but just barely.
How radically the later innings played out compared to the fourth inning. David Ortiz, Adrian Beltre, and Drew slammed back-to-back-to-back home runs and scored four more runs after that. With such run support a pitcher of Josh Beckett’s caliber should have won, but in games against quality hitting Beckett is a mere scintilla of his former self. The starter seems to have rushed back to help his team.
Jacoby Ellsbury didn’t exactly rush back, and very quickly after his return he is back on the disabled list. In the first inning the outfielder collided with Tommy Hunter at first base as the speedster tried to run out a dribbler.
It’s a wonder Victor Martinez isn’t back on the bench after fouling another ball of his foot. He crumpled to the turf in anguish in the top of the eleventh. Red Sox fans joined him in the bottom of the eleventh on Cruz’s walk-off home run off Tim Wakefield’s first pitch of the game.
| Game 117: August 13, 2010 ∙ 11 innings | ||
| Red Sox 66-51 | 9 | H: Dustin Richardson (2), Scott Atchison (3), Felix Doubront (1) BS: Daniel Bard (5) L: Tim Wakefield (3-9) |
| HR: Jed Lowrie (2), David Ortiz (26), Adrian Beltre (22), J.D. Drew – 2 (16) | ||
 Rangers66-48 | 10 | W: Darren O’Day (4-2) |
| 2B: David Murphy (16), Andres Blanco (3), Nelson Cruz (21), Bengie Molina (8), Josh Hamilton (37) 3B: David Murphy (1) HR: Mitch Moreland (1), Michael Young (18), Josh Hamilton (25), Nelson Cruz (16) | ||
