Midafternoon of the Living Dead
Ricky Romero pitched a horrific first inning, as gruesome as a zombie apocalypse flick for the dozens of Blue Jays fans lightly spread across the Great White North. The local nine scored four runs before Romero got a batter out. After batting around back to Daniel Nava, who led off with a base on balls, the Red Sox had a six-run lead.
David Ortiz added to the carnage in the fifth with one out and none on, by which time Romero was long gone. The designated hitter was deliciously close to clubbing his 400th career home run in this game. His 399th circuit clout came courtesy of Jesse Chavez. The shot cleared the Red Sox bullpen and ball became a treasured keepsake of a lucky Fenway fan in the low bleachers who can tell the story about how she was one away from Papi’s 400th. Ortiz may hit the quadricentennial mark in Seattle, the team that signed him as an amateur free agent in 1992, so the milestone may happen with storybook circularity.
While Yankee pitchers were dropping like flies Clay Buchholz was released from the hospital after his five-day stay. Buchholz had esophagitis and gastrointestinal bleeding, illnesses that weakened him such that he won’t be able to fend off reanimated corpses or put a Red Sox uniform back on until after the All-Star break.
| Game 75: June 27, 2012 | ||
| Toronto Blue Jays 38-37 |
4 |
L: Ricky Romero (8-2) |
| 2B: Brett Lawrie (14) HR: Jose Bautista (25), Edwin Encarnacion (22) | ||
 Boston Red Sox40-35 |
10 |
W: Jon Lester (5-5) |
| 2B: Dustin Pedroia (19), Cody Ross (14) HR: David Ortiz (21) | ||
