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Closing Time: Josh Reddick walks off in 10th, gives Red Sox AL East lead 08.08.11 at 12:28 am ET
By Sam Dykstra

Josh Reddick

For 8½ innings, it appeared that the Red Sox would waste yet another excellent Josh Beckett start.

But then small ball came to the rescue in the ninth, and long ball came in for the win in the 10th. The result was a 3-2 win for the Red Sox over the Yankees Sunday night.

In the ninth, with the Sox trailing by a run, Marco Scutaro started with a double off Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, Jacoby Ellsbury moved him over with a sacrifice bunt and Dustin Pedroia smacked a sacrifice fly to left field to tie the game at 2. An inning later, David Ortiz cracked a ground-rule double to right field and pinch-runner Darnell McDonald scored on a  single by Josh Reddick in the bottom of the 10th to give the Red Sox the win over the Yankees and sole possession of first place in the AL East standings. It was the first walk-off of Reddick’s young career in the majors.

Beckett threw six strong innings, surrendering just one earned run on six hits and two walks while striking out five. The lone run came on a fifth-inning home run by Eduardo Nunez, who was the only Yankee never to face Beckett entering Sunday’s affair.

Before the ninth, Boston had its best chance to win the game with the bases loaded and no outs in the second inning, but Yankees starter Freddy Garcia (5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K) retired three of the next four batters to escape the inning having allowed just the one run.

Here’s what went right and what went wrong in the Red Sox-Yankees series finale:

WHAT WENT RIGHT

– Despite not figuring in the decision, Beckett continued his dominance against the Yankees in 2011. He is 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA against the Bronx Bombers this season.

– On the same day the team announced that Jed Lowrie would rejoin the active roster on Monday, his competitor for playing time at shortstop, Scutaro, went 4-for-4 to give him his second four-hit game of the season. It is ninth time to he has gotten four hits in a game, a career-high for the infielder. He also drove in a run in the second inning and scored the game-tying run in the ninth after leading off the frame with a double.

– With his 3-for-4 performance Sunday night, Carl Crawford has now hit safely in nine of his last 10 at-bats to improve his batting average to .260, its highest level at any point in his first year in Boston. His nine hits in the three-game series against the Yankees tied his season-high for most hits in a three-game stretch. He also performed the feat from May 25-27.

Dan Wheeler struck out Nick SwisherEric Chavez and Russell Martin consecutively in the eighth for his seventh straight scoreless appearance. The inning marked the second time this season that Wheeler has gotten all three outs via the K with the other occurrence being July 18 against the Orioles.

Also on a positive bullpen note, Jonathan Papelbon only allowed one hit during his appearance. In his last nine outings (9 IP), the Red Sox closer has allowed just two hits without walking a batter or allowing a run to score all while striking out 10 opponents. Daniel Bard also pitched his first scoreless inning since ending his streak of 26 1/3 such frames last week.

WHAT WENT WRONG

– As good as Beckett was — and he was great Sunday night — the long ball again proved to be an issue. The home run he allowed to Nunez in the fifth was the eighth he’s allowed in his last eight starts. In his nine starts before that, he allowed just a single bomb. The Red Sox ace hasn’t made too many mistakes lately, but when he has, he’s been punished for them by opposing hitters.

In a similar fashion, Albers had allowed just one home run through June (35 games, 43 IP) this season, but with the bomb allowed to Gardner, that gives the Sox reliever two home runs allowed in his last three August appearances. What’s more, Gardner’s home run was just his fifth in 2011 and first-ever against the Red Sox.

– Lefty Franklin Morales didn’t allow a run like Beckett or Albers, but his outing was certainly not for the faint of heart. After entering the game with a runner on first and two outs, Morales started an at-bat with Curtis Granderson with a strike before firing nine straight balls to walk the Yankees center fielder as well as first baseman/cleanup hitter Mark Teixeira and load the bases in the seventh inning of a 2-1 game. He forced Robinson Cano to ground out to second to end the frame. But since July 22, the southpaw has allowed seven runs on 10 hits and five walks over 7 1/3 innings of work for an ERA of 8.59 and a WHIP of 2.14.

– Even MVP candidates have off-games. A day after setting a career-high with six RBI in a game, Ellsbury left eight men on base while going 0-for-5 at the plate. But he was not alone in his struggles with runners on. Reddick and Jason Varitek also left six men on base themselves before Reddick’s walkoff.

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  • Babe Ruth Is Dead

    What a great win…but…

    Today they had their chances to close it in the 8th…and Francona let Varitek and his .228 average hit again! I don’t think that even Francona is that “loyal” or brain dead…it goes back to one of their glaring weaknesses prior to the trade deadline…a RH outfielder with even MARGINAL pop…okay they did not want to trade for Francoeur…got it…but what does that say about their faith in McDonald that he sits on the bench in THE pinch hit situation of the game so we can send up our aging/beloved catcher????

    Even if they only traded for an outfielder with a .250-.260 average they could have used him in that situation…or where in the master plan is the RH hitter coming from? Because they could have used him tonight for sure….and they will need that mythical person again before the season is over….

  • Brady

    great game pitching for beckett and yet AGAIN his good pitching goes for nought as we can’t get him more than 1 run which is pretty sad considering we put up a 10 spot on them the night before when C.C. Sabathia is pitching but yet we can’t seem to score on freddy garcia? thats ugly….but GREAT win sox own the yankees so far this year.

  • K.C

    Agree with Babe Ruth is Dead plus what possessed Francona to give Varitek the green light on the 3-0 pith with the bases loaded.

  • http://Enteryourwebsite... nick

    Calm down sox fans I know our first impulse is to find something wrong… I know, I’m one to but your missing the big pic. Two points. One if Tito had pinch hit teck for mcdonald then he wouldn’t have been available to run for papi, and I’m not sure but I don’t think he would have made it home from second on a single….. Two if what were talking about passing up on is a 2.60 rh hitter then we are not in bad shape… Am I right.. I mean come on, on top of that now jed’s coming back tomorrow and he’s a lot better then a 2.60 guy… It’s gonna be fine. Great night, great win, and kudos to Frankona for putting in pap an inning early. That was the one we needed him in, and it gave Bard so much needed confidence back to close this one out..

  • Dale Sams

    You don’t need a RH batter with pop to PH for Varitek. You can use Salty in that situation if needed. Both are SH’s.

    And Reddick won’t normally be needed to be PH for once Tito realizes his splits arn’t that drastic, and you’ll almost never see Crawford PH for.

  • Babe Ruth Is Dead

    Okay…so if you don’t need a RH hitter…why was there no one to pinch hit for Varitek? Becuase he CLEARLY needed to be pinch hit for in that situation…they obviously did not feel comfortable giving it to either McDonald or Salty…

    And the comment above…you saved McDonald just in case you could use him as a pinch runner…common! We were lucky to have gotten to that place to begin with…and they could have used the guy that they just picked up from KC to pinch run…

    I am not saying you need a RH hitter for Reddick…you need someone with a little pop of the bench…you certainly don’t want a LH hitter on the bench…we have tons of those…so that is why said hitter should be RH

    I am tickled pink that we won tonight…but we were lucky…we may not be so lucky next time…there need to be options…

  • Dino

    We need a lefty reliever also…

  • Michael

    An essential part of the story of this game is Reddick gunning down Martin at second base. Since Nunez followed with his home run, this defensive play by Reddick saved a run and made his walk-off hit possible.

  • Henrick

    If Crawford can continue his uptick that will be huge. The bottom third of the order was looking weak, esp. when Varitek was catching.

    e master plan is the RH hitter coming from?”
    —————————————————–
    Maybe Lavarnway in a Sept callup?

  • Donald T. Massey

    Get him on, get him over ,get him in. Baseball 101. The rest of this noise is housewives gossiping over a fence. Don’t worry, be happy.

  • tom

    Varitek is worthless at the plate…. he has been up 10 times this seaon with the bases loaded.. no hits.. not even a sac fly… .how DARE he swing at a 3-0 pitch??? is the guy that delusional? or is it FRANCOMA

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