Little man, big stick by Jared Carrabis
Pedroia's four-hit day leads Sox to victory


For Dustin Pedroia, it was just another day at the office.

On Sunday, Pedroia chipped in with an impressive four-hit performance, which was his first of the 2010 season. It was his first four-hit game since May 8 of 2009, as Pedey had just three four-hit games all of last season.

Among Pedroia's four hits was a solo home run in the fourth inning, his third of the season, which at the time gave Boston a 6-3 lead against the Kansas City Royals. The four hits shot Pedroia's batting average from the low .200's to .360 to finish the day.

Also contributing in a big way at the plate on Sunday was Boston's new third baseman, Adrian Beltre. Batting out of the six-hole, Beltre contributed with three hits of his own, driving in three.

Pleading his case to be included in the Red Sox lineup should manager Terry Francona choose to sit down the mightily struggling David Ortiz, Jeremy Hermida knocked a two-run double after lifting a solo shot on Saturday night. As it stands, Hermida is batting .375 in his limited role with Boston.

Speaking of Ortiz, the Royals hung a golden sombrero on Big Papi, as the Boston slugger struck out a total of four times in four at bats, stranding five. Reminiscent of 2009, Ortiz is batting just .111 (2-for-18) with nine big whiffs.

Making his first start of the 2010 season, and his first start since joining the Red Sox rotation to begin a big league season, Clay Buchholz didn't dazzle, but he held his own. It took the newlywed 96 pitches to battle through five innings, as he gave up three runs, two earned, on seven hits. Buchholz's efforts put him in line if the bullpen could hold the lead, which was an adventure in its own.

Looking good so far, Manny Delcarmen helped build the bridge to Jonathan Papelbon by turning in two scoreless frames. Ramon Ramirez, facing his former team, imploded in the eighth. Ram-Ram allowed two hits before serving up a three-run blast to Jose Guillen, his second of the game.

Making his first appearance since coughing up a bomb to Curtis Granderson, Papelbon entered the game in the ninth inning in an 8-6 game. It was a perfect inning for Papelbon in a sense that no men reached base, but of his sixteen pitches thrown, all but one was a fastball. The save for Papelbon was his second of the season in three chances.

The Red Sox took their first series on the road, two games to one, against the Kansas City Royals, as they look ahead to being the first road team to play at the brand spankin' new home of the Minnesota Twins, Target Field.

On a side note, in the ninth inning, Beltre collided with left fielder Jacoby Ellsbury on a foul ball up the third baseline. Beltre's knee caught Ellsbury in the ribcage, as the speedy outfielder was lifted from the game. Ellsbury had X-rays after the game, which were negative. It's being called a "rib contusion," and we can hopefully expect him to be day-to-day. In the case where Ellsbury will need some time off, Hermida will likely will in for him in left field. This could be a blessing in disguise for Hermida, potentially forcing Francona's hand to give him more at bats in the DH position over Ortiz.

Monday's probable pitchers:
Jon Lester will get the ball on Monday at 4:10pm against the man who was traded for Pedro Martinez, Carl Pavano. Lester hasn't fared well against the Twins in his career, carrying an 0-1 record with an ERA of 5.66 into Monday's contest. Pavano, on the other hand, hasn't had much success against Boston, either. The right-hander is 2-3 with a 7.07 ERA in his career, but the thrill of being the starting pitcher who gets to open up Target Field may do him some good.

Editor's note:
I just wanted to apologize to the loyal SoxSpace readers for not blogging as much as you all have been accustomed to over the years. This is the first semester that I have been a full-time student in quite some time, so I'm doing my best to balance both writing for SoxSpace and a full-time college schedule. I thank you for your understanding and will try to write as often as physically possible.

-Jared Carrabis

To order Jared's debut book, One Fan's Story: If This Hat Could Talk, click HERE!





Published on April 11, 2010

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