Save by Nava! by Jared Carrabis
Daniel Nava gets hit, then takes away a hit to give Red Sox a win


It’s hard to imagine that the Red Sox were swept by the Angels last October, as Boston improved to 9-0 against the Halos this season on Wednesday night.

With the Yankees and Rays already claiming victory in ballparks far from Fenway before the final out had been recorded, the Red Sox were fighting to stay five and-a-half games back of a playoff spot.

John Lackey toed the rubber for Boston against his former team for the third time this season, having gone 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA against the Angels in 2010. On Wednesday, Mike Scioscia’s club was prepared for what Lackey had coming for them.

Provided with a 1-0 lead after an RBI single by Adrian Beltre in the bottom of the first, Lackey got touched up for a solo shot by his former batterymate, Mike Napoli, in the third.

In the next frame, Howie Kendrick lined a base hit to right to give the Halos a one-run lead.

Trailing by one in the bottom of the fourth, Bill Hall did what he does best – hit bombs. With the count even at one, Hall launched a changeup off of former Red Sox nemesis, Scott Kazmir. When the ball finally landed, the game was tied at two.

In the bottom half, Lackey continued to struggle. After retiring the first two batters of the inning, Lackey allowed back-to-back singles to Bobby Abreu and Reggie Willits. With a strike on Alberto Callaspo, the former Kansas City Royal hacked at a Lackey cutter and hooked it around Pesky’s pole for a three-run shot, providing the Angels with a three-run lead.

Kazmir allowed a lead-off double to Victor Martinez to start the fifth – one of his three hits – as Beltre strolled to the plate with one out later in the inning. After seeing a couple of pitches, Beltre unloaded on a 1-1 slider and blasted it into the Monster seats for a two-run bomb. Beltre’s three runs batted in bumped his RBI total up to 83 on the season.

Lackey recovered to put up scoreless frames in the sixth and seventh frames to complete his ten-hit, five-run, 119-pitch outing.

In the bottom of the seventh, Martinez legged out an infield single to start the inning. On the first pitch that David Ortiz saw, the Boston slugger rocked a double off the wall in left-center to put two runners in scoring position with no outs.

Angels’ reliever Kevin Jepsen would later walk Mike Lowell to load the bases, as Hall was lifted in favor of pinch hitter, J.D. Drew. In the middle of Drew’s at bat, Jepsen fired a wild pitch, allowing Martinez to come home with the go-ahead run.

With first base open, Scioscia opted to intentionally walk Drew to re-load the bases for Daniel Nava, who got plucked with 95mph fastball on an 0-2 count to give the Red Sox a big insurance run.

The two-run lead that was provided by the Red Sox’ offense in the seventh was preserved by Daniel Bard in the eight, who hurled a scoreless inning of work, but not before he was saved by Nava.

With two outs and a runner in scoring position, Nava left his feet and robbed Maicer Izturis of what would have been the tying run.

In the top of the ninth, Jonathan Papelbon was lights out. In his first at bat to Kendrick, Papelbon flaunted his entire arsenal of pitches. The right-handed closer displayed his blazing fastball at 97, while mixing in his slider at 82, and his nearly unhittable splitter at 92.

Papelbon continued his dominance, striking out the side on fourteen pitches to record his thirtieth save of the season.



Final score: Angels 5, Red Sox 7
WP: John Lackey (11-7)
LP: Kevin Jepsen (2-3)

Game notes: On Wednesday night, Jonathan Papelbon became the first major league pitcher to record at least thirty saves in his first five major league seasons. The Red Sox are 9-0 against the Angels this season, and have a chance to sweep the ten-game season series from the Halos on Thursday. If you subtract the nine wins that Boston has collected from Anaheim this season, the Red Sox would only be eight games over .500. After homering on Wednesday, Bill Hall had eight bombs in his last 65 at-bats.

Eye on the scoreboard: Tempers flared in Yankee Stadium, as the Yankees defeated the Tigers yet again, and the Tampa Bay Rays once again had their way with the Texas Rangers. As a result of all three of the top teams in the AL East grabbing a win, the Red Sox remain 5.5 games back of a playoff spot.

Tweet of the Night: @Trags: "We're definitely paying more attention now." #redsox Bill Hall on #Yankees #rays both winning too

-Jared Carrabis

Published on August 18, 2010

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