Wild Fenway Slugfest by Jared Carrabis
Youkilis, Sox Win A Wild One At Fenway

Like pitcher’s duels? Fenway Park was not your place to be last night. In one of the most bizarre and wildly unpredictable games in Red Sox history where by the third inning the fans watching fully understood that they were watching a game where literally anything could happen, the Red Sox walked away both winning the battle but not yet the war. By taking game one, believe it or not, there are still at least eighteen innings to be played between these two teams in the next 48 hours.


In a game that was headlined as being the Major League debut of the 28-year-old knuckleballer, Charlie Zink, the contest was all but that. Zink threw a perfect first inning to get Boston up to the plate in the bottom half and by the looks of it, the game was over before it had even gotten the chance to really start. Seven hits, two walks, an error and a pair of three-run bombs by David Ortiz led to a 10-run start for the Red Sox after just an inning.


Normally, ten runs is enough of a cushion to put any team away, but not this offense. The Texas Rangers started to chip away. Two runs in the second inning and a monster top of the fifth headed by Ian Kinsler who started the inning off with his fortieth double of the season and in his second at bat of the same inning hitting a 3-run shot (his sixteenth of the season) to bring the Rangers within two, 12-10.


Leading off the bottom of the fifth, David Ortiz cranked a 95 MPH fastball out to deep center landing in the first row of the seats. The home run was later called fan interference and Ortiz was stripped of his potential third home run of the night. The home run would have accounted for his first three-home run game of his career. But oh sweet justice came knocking on the Red Sox door. This was a game where it was almost controlled by the mind. With so much offense, it was almost like whatever you hoped would happen came true. The very next at bat, Kevin Youkilis worked the count to 2-2 before taking a Josh Rupe fastball out to deep center field and gone, 14-10 Red Sox.


The Texas Rangers bats coming off an eight-run inning continued to punish the Red Sox pitching. Charlie Zink lasted just four and a third innings giving up eight runs on eleven hits. Javier Lopez came in to relieve Zink and gave up a hit and a run, then came David Aardsma who gave up four earned. Next was Manny Delcarmen handing over two runs of his own. Both Aardsma and Delcarmen combined for the top of the sixth inning continuation of the bullpen meltdown. When the smoke cleared, the Rangers walked away with five more runs in the inning and a 15-14 lead. Yes, I said lead.


The Rangers grabbed another run in the top of the seventh thanks to one of Marlon Byrd’s five hits on the night, an RBI single to drive in Josh Hamilton to make the score 16-14, Rangers. A stunned Fenway crowd looked on as they saw a ten run lead diminish before their very eyes and once their lead was gone they looked on as the lead they once had started to creep in the wrong direction. Boston got a run back in the bottom of the seventh to make the score 16-15 in favor of the Texas Rangers. It was time for some of that Fenway magic.


With one out in the bottom of the eighth, the inning got started with the first at bat of the game for Jacoby Ellsbury who did not start due to a bruised tailbone inflicted by a hit by pitch the previous night. Ellsbury worked a walk as JD Drew came up and hit a laser out to right field and with some tricky work by the NESN cameraman the ball looked like it had enough but then fell short, two outs. Dustin Pedroia then came to the plate and with two outs he sat on a curveball and drove it off the wall in left for a double to bring Ellsbury all the way around from first who was running on contact with two outs. Ellsbury scored, tie game.


Later in the inning, Kevin Youkilis would come to bat with Pedroia standing on second base and Ortiz at first base as a result of an intentional walk with first base open. With a 2-0 count, Kevin Youkilis got a 97 MPH fastball and blasted his second home run of the night up and over the monster to give the Red Sox a 19-16 lead. Fenway erupted as they were all well aware they were watching one of the most exciting games in the history of Fenway Park. Papelbon came on for the ninth and gave up a run but eventually nailed down his thirty-second save of the season. The Red Sox take this one by a score of 19-17, yeah I said the Red Sox, not the Patriots.


Final Score: Rangers 17, Red Sox 19

Published on August 13, 2008

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