Lucky 13 by Jared Carrabis
3-Run Thirteenth Wins It For Boston

In a thirteen inning marathon of a baseball game, this contest started out similar to a handful of other games played by the Sox this season. Boston jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first and then the bats would not do much of anything for the rest of the game, at least not until way, way later in the game in this case.


In the top of the first, Red Sox leadoff hitter Jacoby Ellsbury doubled to left to put a man in scoring position with no outs. Dustin Pedroia sac bunted Ellsbury over to third and David Ortiz knocked in the Red Sox starting centerfielder on an 0-1 fastball. The birthday boy, Manny Ramirez, strolled to the plate looking to become a member of the elusive 500 home run club but instead stroked his thirteenth double of the season to put two men in scoring position. Mike Lowell followed Manny’s double with sacrifice fly to plate Ortiz from third.


Looking to turn his season back in the right direction and return to the form of the pitcher that has the offense shaking in their cleats, Josh Beckett took to the mound with dominance on his mind. Beckett pumped out 118 pitches through six strong innings giving up two runs on four hits while striking out ten. One of the earned runs was the eleventh home run allowed by Josh Beckett this season off the bat of Aubrey Huff. Beckett had some control issues in his last inning of work when he walked the bases loaded with two outs only to come back and record his tenth and final strikeout of the night to end his outing.


The Red Sox bullpen (Okajima 2, Delcarmen 1, Lopez 0.1, Hansen 1.2, Timlin 1, Papelbon 1) pitched phenomenally in relief of Josh Beckett. Hideki Okajima pitched two scoreless to begin the bullpen’s fantastic night, Craig Hansen contributed an inning and two thirds scoreless, Mike Timlin gave us all a scare with a bases loaded two out jam and a deep fly to left to end the inning, and Jonathan Papelbon nailed down the save in the bottom of the thirteenth.


Well, you can’t get a save if you don’t have a lead. In the top of the thirteenth, you can pin this loss right on the defense of the Baltimore Orioles and there is certainly no disputing that accusation. The Red Sox scored more runs in that inning than they had the previous twelve innings combined. With one out, the hustling Manny Ramirez reached base on a throwing error by Melvin Mora who had all the time in the world to stop and make an accurate throw (let’s face it, that was no Coco Crisp or Jacoby Ellsbury running down that line).


Mike Lowell came up to bat next and knocked in Ramirez from second to give the Red Sox a 3-2 advantage in the top of the thirteenth. Kevin Youkilis then came up and ended an 0 for 18 drought with an infield hit to Orioles shortstop Freddie Bynum that he could do nothing with. With the captain Jason Varitek at the plate, Lowell and Youkilis would pull off the double steal to put two men in scoring position. Varitek would later strike out but Coco Crisp would send a groundball Bynum’s way and Freddie Bynum’s throw was no where near first base. Lowell would score and in behind him was Youkilis. The three run cushion was enough for Papelbon to nail down his fifteenth save of the season.


Final Score: Red Sox 5, Orioles 2 / 13 Innings

Published on May 30, 2008

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