May, June, whatever by Jared Carrabis
Ortiz, the AL Player of the Month for May, starts June with a bang


May, June, whatever. Just hours subsequently being named the American League Player of the Month for the month of May, after hitting .363 with 10 HR, 27 RBI and a 1.211 OPS, David Ortiz was back to his old tricks.

Before Ortiz could save the day, there needed to be something that the Red Sox needed to be saved from. Enter: Daisuke Matsuzaka's three-run first inning.

Back-to-back one-out doubles by Oakland and a monster shot by Kurt Suzuki had the A's feeling pretty good about themselves in the early going. That was, until, Kevin Youkilis had something to say about it.

Marco Scutaro began the home-half of the frame with a base hit to right field, while two batters later, Ortiz found himself in the extra-base hits column yet again. Papi's two-bagger had two runners in scoring position for Youkilis, who entered the night as a .340 hitter with runners in scoring position.

Those numbers would only increase, as Youkilis dropped a base hit into center to bring home Scutaro and Ortiz.

With Daisuke settling in and keeping the A's off the scoreboard, the Red Sox looked to give themselves the lead in the bottom of the fifth. A leadoff double for Darnell McDonald looked like it was going to waste, until Ortiz mashed a two-out homer into the right field corner.

For Ortiz, it was his third home run in his last four games.

An RBI double for Dustin Pedroia in the seventh and an RBI base hit for Scutaro, who was 3-for-5 on the night, in the eighth gave Boston a healthy 6-3 lead.

Daniel Bard was lights out for the Red Sox, retiring all four batters that he faced, whiffing two. Bard handed things over to Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth, who gave up a solo blast to pinch-hitter Kevin Kouzmanoff.

Aside from the solo shot, Papelbon nailed down the save, his thirteenth, as the Red Sox won their fourth straight and their twelfth of fifteen.

Final score: Athletics 4, Red Sox 6
WP: Daisuke Matsuzaka (4-2)
LP: Ben Sheets (2-4)
SV: Jonathan Papelbon (13)

Game notes: Since starting the season 5-9 on April 20, the Red Sox own the best record in baseball, going 26-14 with a .650 winning percentage.

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





Published on June 03, 2010

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