Wild Win In Arlington by Jared Carrabis
Sox rally in the ninth to stay atop the Wild Card


When the season is all said and done, file this game under: Most important win of the 2009 season.

With the New York Yankees seemingly destroying everything in their path, the Red Sox have found them in a tough position in the American League East. While their chances are still far better than the biased New York media claims they are, Boston needed to turn into October-mode against the Texas Rangers on Friday night, who have had their way with the Sox this season.

I don't want to over-exaggerate on this, but anytime Jon Lester is on the mound in a game against a team whom you're competing for a playoff spot against, it is imperative that you win that game; no excuses. Lester has pitched brilliantly for the Sox in the past few months, and one of his best starts came against this very team in which the left-hander tossed a complete game, two-hitter.

However, two batters into Friday night's contest, the power-hitting Rangers had a 2-0 lead after a two-run shot off the bat of second baseman, turned shortstop, turned third baseman, Michael Young. Home run number 20 on the season for Young gave the Rangers an early lead and momentum boost that Lester would stifle in the following frames.

Over his next three innings of work, the lefty workhorse powered through the Rangers' lineup, striking out eleven batters, while walking three. The Texas Rangers lead the American League in strikeouts, but that stat does not reflect how Lester commanded all of his pitches on Friday night, with the exception of one cut fastball that Young disposed of into the stands in left-center.

Lester went the first five innings without any run support at all. That was, until, David Ortiz came to the plate in the top of the sixth inning. Ortiz, who had been dropped down to the seventh spot in the batting order for the first time since May of 2003, was very displeased with his performance as of late, and made it noted when he spoke to the media.

"I'm hitting like [expletive]," Ortiz told reporters. The left-handed slugger has battled a tough slump once already this season, and overcame it by hitting .280 with 14 HR from June 2 all the way to the day of the trade deadline on July 31. Since that time, Ortiz has hit under .200 and hadn't homered since the day after his name was leaked as being a part of the 104 names tied to performance enhancing drugs in 2003.

Ortiz silenced his critics on Friday night when the DH cracked a 3-2 fastball over the wall in right field for a game-tying, two-run blast. The excitement of Ortiz's game-tying shot off of "every day" Eddie Guardado would be short-lived, as the Rangers stormed right back with a leadoff double by Marlon Byrd, followed by an RBI single by Andruw Jones to re-take the lead. Lester would strike out the side right after to prevent any further damage.

"One of those starts that it's not easy," Lester said. "There are more of these than good ones. I made some pitches when I had to. I just tried to execute pitches when I needed to. It wasn't all there, couldn't get consistently down in the zone. It was just a battle."

As Lester headed for the showers after six innings, Michael Young provided his team with an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh after hitting a sacrifice fly to right field to score Taylor Teagarden from third.

With the score at 4-2 in favor of the Rangers heading into the ninth, Texas manager Ron Washington went to his closer, Frank Francisco. A rejuvenated Ortiz ripped a double down the right field line that rattled around enough to award number 34 his 24th two-bagger of the season. Next up was Jason Varitek, who beat out an infield single on a very close call to put runners at the corners for Jacoby Ellsbury.

Ellsbury, who entered the game in the seventh inning as a pinch-hitter, smacked a base hit back up the middle to drive in Ortiz to make it a one-run game. With men on first and second, the most bizarre of managerial decisions that I have ever seen took place. With Varitek not blessed with much speed at the age of 37, manager Terry Francona lifted the team's captain for pinch-runner, Clay Buchholz. I repeat, Clay Buchholz came into this came to pinch-run, representing the tying run in the ninth inning.

Dustin Pedroia came to the plate and launched a fly ball out to left field that clanked off the wall. Buchholz held himself up between second and third to make sure that the ball had dropped in, but by the time he had realized that the ball had not been caught, it was too late to commit to rounding third and head for home. The starting pitcher was gunned down at home plate in plenty of time to record the inning's second out in a highly controversial managerial decision by Francona had this game not ended the way all of us in Red Sox Nation intended it to.

"It was crazy," Pedroia said. "As soon as I hit it, I thought we had the lead. But then I look down there and all hell was breaking loose in the baseline."

I understand Francona had no other choice, but I believe that even without having a set of wheels, Varitek would have read the ball a lot better than Buchholz had.

With two outs and two men in scoring position, Theo Epstein's trade deadline prize came to the plate with all hopes of a Nation resting on his shoulders. Victor Martinez fell behind in the count 1-2 after three pitches, but fouled off three pitches before getting the one that sent Boston into a frenzy. On the eighth pitch of the at bat, Martinez smoked a 95 MPH fastball down the right field line that brought both the tying and go-ahead run to the plate, as Boston took a 5-4 lead in the ninth after trailing 4-2 to start the frame.

"You think you've seen everything," said manager Terry Francona "That was one of the most exciting innings we've been part of. That at-bat Victor [Martinez] had was phenomenal."

With Martinez on board with a double, Jason Bay poked a single into right field that brought V-Mart to the plate as an insurance run. The Sox' ninth inning rally brought JD Drew to the plate as Boston's eighth man to bat in the inning. Ahead in the count 2-1, Drew ripped a 93 MPH fastball deep into the seats in right field, as Boston's ninth inning rally turned into an offensive explosion.

With an 8-4 lead in the bottom of the ninth, Francona didn't want to mess around with Boston's playoff hopes hanging in the balance. With a save opportunity now out of reach after Drew's two-run shot, Francona summoned Jonathan Papelbon out of the bullpen regardless. Boston's fearless closer shut the Rangers down, while racking up two strikeouts in his one inning of work to complete the Red Sox' most important win of the season thus far.

Final Score: Red Sox 8, Rangers 4

Things you'll need to know to impress your friends:

Jon Lester was just one strikeout shy of his career high (12). Although he fell short of tying and/or setting a new career high in strikeouts, he did, however, strike out the side on three separate occasions in his three innings of work.

Lester now has six games with double-digit strikeouts. That's the most tallied by a Red Sox left-hander since way back in 1954. Lester has been sizzling in the month of August, posting a 2.37 ERA with 28 K's in his starts.

The Red Sox scored more runs in the ninth inning of Friday night's comeback win (6) than they did over the course of the final three losses of their four-game sweep at the hands of the New York Yankees (2).

In his career, Victor Martinez is batting .283 with 143 RBI when batting in a two-out situation with runners in scoring position. He also holds a .297 average with 13 HR, 47 RBI, 15 doubles and a .372 OBP in 256 at bats when batting in the ninth inning. Eat your heart out, A-Rod.

Saturday's pitching match-up:

This pitching match-up is a toss up for Saturday night's 8:05pm start. Brad Penny (7-6, 5.16 ERA) will get the nod, as lefty Derek Holland (5-7, 5.04 ERA) will try to pull his team back within a half-game of the Red Sox in the Wild Card. Penny is 1-2 lifetime against the Rangers with a 4.26 ERA in each of his three starts against Texas. Holland, on the other hand, has a 6.70 ERA at home in his career and picked up a loss after giving up four earned runs to the Red Sox in his only time facing Boston.

Eye on the scoreboard:

Boston 8, Texas 4
New York 4, Seattle 2
Toronto 5, Tampa Bay 2

Result: With the Red Sox' incredible ninth inning comeback, the Sox now move 1.5 games up in the Wild Card standings over the Texas Rangers. The Tampa Bay Rays continue to lose to every team that isn't the Red Sox, which moves them five games back of Boston in the Wild Card and 11.5 games out in the AL East. After Mark Texiera's late-inning home run, the Yankees keep the Sox 6.5 out in the East.

-Jared Carrabis





Published on August 15, 2009

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