The pitching matchup last night was all anyone could talk about: Justin Verlander vs. Josh Beckett. Verlander not only has a no hitter already this year, but took another no hitter bid into the late outings of his next outing. And Josh Beckett who is wheeling and dealing and currently has the lowest ERA of any AL pitcher. The threat of rain wouldn’t keep people away from the park to see this pitching matchup.
If it came back to who pitched better: Beckett or Verlander…you’d have to say Beckett. Josh pitched 6 strong innings, throwing 83 pitches and had a line of 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB and 3 Ks. He was pulled after the 6th inning with the Sox clinging to a 3-1 lead because of neck tightness. At the post game interview, Beckett swears it is not something to worry about….so while I freak out, I will hope that is the case. Beckett allowed a run to score in the 2nd inning and that is the first run he has allowed to score in the month of May. Beckett got out of that inning with only one run scoring much to the thanks of Victor Martinez. He had the bases loaded with one out and there was a shallowish fly to Left Field for which Carl Crawford made the catch and then threw home. Victor Martinez tagged and then decided not to go home. I know VMart isn’t speedy, but I can’t imagine him not making it in safe. So, thanks VMart…we’d end up needed that run to not score later!
The Sox offense was able to do some damage against Verlander. After the Tigers scored in the top of the 2nd, the Sox immediately responded and scored in the bottom of the 2nd on a JD Drew sac fly. In the bottom of the 4th, JD went back after it again and homered to right field to give the Sox a 2-1 lead. Papi hit another homer off Verlander in the 7th to give the Sox a 3-1 lead.
After Beckett left the game, Matt Albers came in and pitched a scoreless 7th inning. Bard came in for the 8th inning and proceeded to give up back to back homeruns to Boesch and Cabrera to tie the game. Bard got the next 3 outs, but the damage was already done. Game tied.
Papelbon came out in the 9th and continued some of the drama. He got the first out on a comebacker that hit off his knee. We all held our breath until we saw that he was okay. He stayed on the mound and kept pitching. Then he gave up 2 hits and a walk to load the bases with only one out. This game seemed like it was heading completely in the wrong direction. However, Pap got himself out of trouble with both a K of Boesch and Cabrera to end the inning. Phew.
In the 9th, Verlander was finally out of the game. Al Alburquerque took the mound. And yes, his name still makes me giggle. Alburquerque walks Youk who Iglesias comes in to run for, Papi single to have runners on first and third with no outs. JD Drew is intentionally walked. The Sox had the bases loaded with no outs. Lowrie hit a ball to left field and Iglesias ended up being thrown out at home. I was at the game and it took me forever to figure out what happened. However, the WALK OFF KING Carl Crawford came to the plate. Crawford once again was the hero and got a hit to centerfield for THE WIN!
Love a good walk off! Love that Dirty Water!
RED SOX 4 TIGERS 3 BOXSCORE
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