When It Rains, It Pours by Jared Carrabis
Sox pour on 17 runs in day/night double header


Despite the rain that fell from the Boston sky on Wednesday, the Red Sox bats poured on seventeen runs in a two-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins.

Throwing out the first pitch on Wednesday night was Red Sox postseason hero and legend, Dave Roberts. Roberts, who announced his retirement before the start of the 2009 season, was welcomed back with open arms to Fenway Park in front of a sellout crowd of 37,494. After tossing a strike towards home plate, Roberts was greeted by his former manager, the birthday boy, Terry Francona. It was a special moment in Red Sox Nation that fans in attendance won't soon forget.

Wearing their white and green jerseys to commemorate Earth Day, the Red Sox got on the board early, as they did in game one on Wednesday. Fresh from Pawtucket, making his first start since being called up due to Rocco Baldelli being placed on the 15-day disabled list, Jeff Bailey made his presence felt right away. With two men on, Bailey was dealt a 1-0 changeup from Francisco Liriano. Bailey respectfully thanked Liriano for the gift by roping the 85 MPH slowball into the Monster seats for a three-run jack in the bottom of the second.

Jacoby Ellsbury led off the bottom of the third with a six-pitch walk, followed by Dustin Pedroia's fifth double of the season that came on a line drive to left field. With two men in scoring position, the awoken bat of David Ortiz rattled a double to left field that plated Ellsbury and Pedroia with ease. Ortiz stood at second base with his fouth double of the season, collecting his seventh and eighth RBI's in the process.

With a 5-2 lead, the Red Sox offense went to work again in the bottom of the forth once again. Jeff Bailey led off the inning with a five-pitch walk, only to advance to third base on Nick Green's fourth double of the season. With two men in scoring position and no outs, Jacoby Ellsbury pulled a ground ball to the right side of the infield, scoring Bailey from the back door, as Minnesota recorded the out of Ellsbury at first. With Green advancing to third on the out, Dustin Pedroia lifted a fly ball to left field, which scored Green via the sacrifice fly.

For Brad Penny's second consecutive outing, the Red Sox provided him with seven runs. In Penny's previous start against the Orioles, the right-hander struggled, giving up seven runs and did not earn a victory, although the Red Sox bailed him out by pulling out a 10-8 win. On Wednesday night, Penny looked sharp. The former Marlin and Dodger pitched six innings, giving up three runs, two earned, giving up six hits, one of which was a solo home run, while striking out two.

After Penny had tossed 89 pitches (56 for strikes), facing 24 batters, the Red Sox bullpen went to work to preserve the four-run lead. The combination of Ramon Ramirez in the seventh and Hideki Okajima in the eighth, each pitching one-two-three innings, built the bridge to Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth.

Although it would not be a save situation for Papelbon, with a day off on Thursday, Terry Francona's aim was to keep his closer sharp for the three-game series with the Yankees at Fenway Park that loomed this weekend. Papelbon was lights out in the ninth, making quick work of Jason Kubel, Michael Kuddyer and Brian Buscher in order to conclude the game. The win for the Red Sox is their seventh in a row and is the longest active winning streak in the Majors. With the win, Boston now improves to 9-6 on the season, as Brad Penny picked up his first win at Fenway Park in his career to make his record a perfect 2-0.

In other news, an 0-for-3 night at the plate for Ellsbury snapped his hitting streak, but the Red Sox center fielder is still seeing and hitting the ball really well. Although David Ortiz has yet to hit his first home run, he has shown drastic improvements at the plate by driving the ball to left field for extra bases consistently.

Julio Lugo made his first rehab start on Wednesday with Pawtucket. In his first start, Lugo went 0-for-3 with a walk. Although Lugo struggled at the plate, his mobility on the field looked back to normal. "I just need to feel strong again," Lugo said. "I don’t have any pain anymore." The Boston shortstop hopes to rejoin his team on Monday when the team makes their trip out to Cleveland.

The Red Sox will enjoy a day off on Thursday before welcoming the New York Yankees to Fenway Park for a three-game set. With an ERA just over eight million, the Yankees have elected to skip Chien Ming Wang in their rotation for Friday. Filling in for Wang will be Youk's best buddy, Joba Chamberlain. I'm going to go ahead and disregard Lester's first two starts of the season and hope that the left-hander can build on his strong outing that he had against Baltimore. In that performance, Lester tossed seven shutout innings against the birds, striking out nine and walking two.

The Red Sox aim to set the tone against the Yankees with Jon Lester on the mound, who was 2-0 with a 1.19 ERA against the Bronx Bombers in 2008. Lifetime at Fenway Park, Lester is 17-3 and only getting better. As it stands now, I've got the pitching match ups as Lester Vs. Chamberlain on Friday, Beckett Vs. Burnett on Saturday and Pettitte Vs. Masterson on Sunday. It should be an interesting series folks, so sit back and enjoy.

Congratulations to the Boston Bruins for making quick work of the Habs in Montreal!
-Jared Carrabis

Final Score: Twins 3, Red Sox 7

Published on April 23, 2009

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