Old McDonald hit a bomb by Jared Carrabis
Darnell McDonald ties it, then wins it



On Fenway Park's 98th birthday, the legendary ballpark celebrated in style.

There hasn't been much to celebrate as of late here in Red Sox Nation. The Red Sox have lost six straight at home and five straight overall. Prior to Tuesday's series opening against the Texas Rangers, the Red Sox placed not one, but two, outfielders on the 15-day disabled list.

On the shelf went Mike Cameron and Jacoby Ellsbury and up from Pawtucket were Josh Reddick and Darnell McDonald. Prior to being called up, Reddick was having a rough start to his season, batting .179, after an impressive spring. Meanwhile, McDonald was on fire. The outfielder was hitting .341 for the Paw Sox and arrived at Fenway Park just an hour before first pitch.

The Red Sox needed to bring out all the stops in this one, as the lineup at the end of this contest was far from what it was at the beginning.

Much like the season has been for Boston, the start to this game wasn't pretty. The Rangers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI single by Nelson Cruz. In the bottom half of the inning, Victor Martinez evened things up at one with an RBI single of his own.

Notorious for allowing base runners to do what they please, Tim Wakefield did more than just that. Aside from making history for passing Cy Young to move into second place in Red Sox history for innings pitched, Wakefield was also toeing the slab for nine stolen bases by the Rangers, a franchise record.

Trailing 5-1 in the fourth, Jeremy Hermida connected with his second home run in as many days to bring the Sox within three. It would be a run that the Red Sox would give right back in the top half of the fifth.

The Red Sox began to chip away in the sixth inning when Reddick blooped a double down the left field line to drive in a pair of runs. It wasn't ruled a ground rule double, but the replay may indicate otherwise. Despite the call, it was a rare change of fortune for the Red Sox.

With help from the bullpen, Boston kept it close and gave the offense a chance to complete the comeback. After a double in the eighth inning by the captain, Jason Varitek, pinch hitter Darnell McDonald picked up a bat and crushed a 2-2 slider into the Monster seats to tie the game at six.

Jonathan Papelbon kept the contest locked at six runs a piece by hurling a scoreless ninth to set the stage in the bottom half. Kevin Youkilis got things going with an infield single, would take second on a passed ball and head to third on a sacrifice bunt by Bill Hall.

Rangers' manager Ron Washington elected to intentionally walk Mike Lowell to set up a double play scenario with one out in the ninth. Reliever Frank Francisco would get Adrian Beltre to pop out to record the second out, but then walked Jason Varitek to load the bases for eighth inning hero, McDonald.

"I wanted to be the hero tonight. I wanted to come through. I know the team has been struggling a little bit. When I came up here, any opportunity I got, I wanted to be a spark," said McDonald after the game.

With the bases loaded, McDonald got the chance to add to his very brief legacy in Boston. After taking a called strike, McDonald smoked a 94 MPH fastball that crashed off the Green Monster scoreboard to bring home the winning run.

They may have only been his teammates for a couple of hours, but you wouldn't have been able to tell. The Red Sox looked rejuvenated, as they mobbed the newly called-up McDonald in a celebration that carried into the outfield grass.

"I couldn't write a script any better than this," said McDonald. "A lot happened real quick tonight. It was a dream come true. That's the reason I signed over here to play in this type of atmosphere, to play for an organization like this."

Lowell, who came up in situations where he could have been the hero, instead of McDonald, had nothing but praise for Darnell. "Wins like this, sometimes, they hopefully have a residual effect," said Lowell. "I think we got outplayed. We got outhustled for those first five, six innings. It didn't look too pretty, but sometimes things really turn around, especially from unexpected sources. Darnell, what a way to have your first game with the Red Sox. That was pretty amazing."

Let's hope Tuesday's game is a metaphor for the Red Sox's season. A very, very ugly start, but a finish that sends Fenway into a frenzy.

Wednesday's pitching match-up:

Josh Beckett gets the ball in the middle game against Texas. With Beckett, comes Varitek in the lineup as the starting catcher. Beckett will look to build on a very promising start against the Tampa Bay Rays, which saw the right-hander hurl seven innings without allowing an earned run. Beckett has made five starts in his career against Texas and is 2-2 with a 3.86 ERA. The lefty Matt Harrison will oppose Beckett on the mound, which means that you can expect to see David Ortiz out of the lineup in favor of Mike Lowell at DH. Harrison has faced Boston just once in his career, giving up four earned runs in six innings.

-Jared Carrabis

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





Published on April 21, 2010

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