Red Sox Blow Chance for a Sweep When Blue Jays Score Four Times in Ninth

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Aug 12, 2010

Red Sox Blow Chance for a Sweep When Blue Jays Score Four Times in Ninth Postgame, Blue Jays 6-5: OK, you're likely a bit down and out right now, so I'll try to provide the big picture. The Red Sox are still 4-3 on the road trip and if they can just get through Texas without disaster they have a nine-game homestand against three beatable teams on the horizon. Oh yeah, Dustin Pedroia should be back for that stretch.

Now, on to the negative. Had they just found a way to get those last three outs the wild card deficit would've been only three games. Boston is now five back of Tampa Bay in the loss column with 46 games to play.

And while he had been throwing well of late, Jonathan Papelbon has still blown five saves in his last 20 games and six overall. The Sox had managed to win in each of the last three games in which he blew a lead, but Thursday's mess was far too much to overcome.

Texas is lying in wait, in air conditioning I would imagine. The Rangers have Thursday off before hosting the Red Sox in three straight games in what could be oppressive heat. We will follow all the action for you right here, beginning with Friday night's matchup between Josh Beckett and Tommy Hunter.

Final, Blue Jays 6-5: Call it the Tragedy in Toronto. Three outs from a huge sweep the Red Sox see John Lackey and Jonathan Papelbon give up four runs in the ninth inning. This one really hurts.

Fred Lewis ends it when he greets Daniel Bard with a fly to center that is just deep enough to bring in Aaron Hill from third.

There have been several losses this season which caused one to ask how the club would recover. Ask away, folks. Heading to Texas for three straight with this one in the pocket is not a good feeling.

We will see what they say postgame and get back to you in a bit.

By the way, Tampa Bay does not play Thursday. Boston is now five games back in the loss column.

3:26 p.m.: You've all been clamoring for months now for Daniel Bard to take over the closer's role. As misguided as that argument has been, there's some pretty good support in this one. Bard is jogging on to take over for Papelbon, who gave up two runs in 1/3 inning.

3:25 p.m.: Jonathan Papelbon, who has been so solid of late, blows a save for the sixth time this year as Edwin Encarnacion rips an RBI double. There is still only one out and the bases are loaded.

3:18 p.m.: If you are not watching it's probably a good thing. There are still no outs in the ninth and the Jays have the tying run at third and the winning run at first.

3:08 p.m.:He was given the chance to finish it himself, but John Lackey is removed after serving up a solo shot to Jose Bautista. Jonathan Papelbon is jogging in to a 5-3 game with no outs in the ninth. Papelbon is seeking his 30th save for the fifth straight year.

Mid 9th, Red Sox 5-2: John Lackey jogs to the mound at Rogers Center in pursuit of his 15th career complete game. He faces a pretty tough trio in Jose Bautista, Vernon Wells and Adam Lind.

End 8th, Red Sox 5-2: John Lackey is in great shape to pick up his first complete game in a Red Sox uniform, if Terry Francona allows him to go back out there. Lackey's pitch count is just 91. He should get every opportunity.

With three games in Texas heat coming up it never hurts to give the bullpen a complete day off.

Mid 8th, Red Sox 5-2: Kevin Cash has one double in 54 at-bats with the Red Sox this year. Jarrod Saltalamacchia has two in just four at-bats and was robbed of a third in his first start with the club. Instant upgrade.

Saltalamacchia comes in easily on a triple by Darnell McDonald. Those two 8-9 hitters are a combined 4-for-8.

Daniel Bard was up and warming but John Lackey has thrown only 82 pitches.

End 7th, Red Sox 4-2: Unreal. The Blue Jays just cannot get past the idea of hitting a home run. A leadoff double seems to give them a great chance to get within a run, but three straight outs come on five swings. Everyone wants to tie it on one vicious cut.

The free-swinging Jays have allowed John Lackey to get through seven with just 82 pitches.

Mid 7th, Red Sox 4-2: Slim leads are always a bit harrowing against a team that can "bloop and blast" with the best of them. John Lackey heads back out there having thrown 72 pitches. His bullpen is rested if it ever comes to that.

End 6th, Red Sox 4-2: For the second time in three innings the Blue Jays get runners on the corners with no outs and continue to swing out of their shoes in search of the big bomb. They have scored twice on double plays, a swap the Sox are happy to make.

John Lackey gives up a double and a single to start the inning. Jose Bautista then swings at the first pitch he sees and hits into a 6-4-3 twin killing.

Must be maddening to root for this team at times. Great when the balls are flying out, but otherwise they just play into the opposing team's plans.

Jason Frasor is the third Blue Jays pitcher of the game.

Mid 6th, Red Sox 4-1: David Purcey was cruising through the first 1 1/3 innings out of hte Toronto bullpen before giving up a single and then uncorking a highlight-reel wild pitch over the head of Jacoby Ellsbury.

Didn't amount to anything, but it was worth a laugh, especially when the guy in the second row flinched as the ball sailed toward him. Always good for a chuckle.

End 5th, Red Sox 4-1: Although the Red Sox have had plenty of success against the Blue Jays this year you figured Toronto would at least be able to score some runs. It's kind of what they do.

But with John Lackey's latest 1-2-3 inning the Jays had scored just three runs in the last 20 innings.

Lackey has needed only 65 pitches through five.

Mid 5th, Red Sox 4-1: With his solo shot in the fifth, David Ortiz has recorded seven 25-homer seasons with the Red Sox. He moves ahead of Manny Ramirez and Mo Vaughan on that list and is now tied with Jim Rice. Ted Williams is the runaway leader with 14.

1:53 p.m.: Jed Lowrie hits his first home run of the season and David Ortiz hits his 25th to chase Brad Mills in the fifth. Mills was no match for the suddenly slugging Red Sox in this one. They have eight home runs in the series.

End 4th, Red Sox 2-1: Pretty good illustration of how the Blue Jays operate in the bottom of the fourth. After getting the leadoff man on with a walk you would think they might work John Lackey a bit, see if he loses the plate or perhaps starts to get his pitch count up. Nope. The next three batters swing at the first pitch.

One of those batters, Vernon Wells, did get a single to put runners at the corners. But then we had a double play hit into on the first pitch by Adam Lind (run came in from third) and a fly to right off the bat of Aaron Hill.

Mid 4th, Red Sox 2-0: The Red Sox had Brad Mills on the ropes in the third but he battles back to give his team a quick fourth. He can thank third baseman Edwin Encarnacion for some of that. Encarnacion made a sparkling stop of a shot down the line to rob Jarrod Saltalamacchia of what could've been his second double of the game.

End 3rd, Red Sox 2-0: John Lackey has retired four in a row and has three strikeouts through three. He has thrown an impressive 30-of-40 pitches for strikes.

Mid 3rd, Red Sox 2-0: Speed can kill, or generate a run, whichever you prefer. In the case of Jacoby Ellsbury it is the latter. He singles sharply to center, moves up on a walk to Jed Lowrie and then is on the front end of a double steal before scoring the first run on a sacrifice fly.

David Ortiz relies a bit more on power and shows it again with an RBI single off the wall in right to bring in Lowrie.

J.D. Drew added a double to put two men in scoring position but last night's hero, Bill Hall, strikes out for the second time to end it.

Brad Mills has thrown 73 pitches.

End 2nd, 0-0: You figured the Blue Jays would try to test Jarrod Saltalamacchia after all the throwing problems he has endured. No problems this time around. He guns out Aaron Hill trying to steal second as John Lackey works through a two-hit inning.

Mid 2nd, 0-0: Jarrod Saltalamacchia's first plate appearance with the Red Sox results in his first extra-base hit since Aug. 2, 2009. It is a bloop double that fell in shallow right and put runners at second and third with two outs. Brad Mills then strikes out Darnell McDonald to end the threat.

Mills has four strikeouts already, but he has thrown 46 pitches in just two innings.

Saltalamacchia's double was not hit hard at all but it must feel good for him to get off on the right foot.

End 1st, 0-0: John Lackey matches Brad Mills with two strikeouts and one hit allowed in the first inning. Yunel Escobar is left at second base after Lackey fans Jose Bautista and Vernon wells back-to-back.

Mid 1st, 0-0: It might take one trip through the lineup for the Red Sox to get to lefty Brad Mills, if they do at all. Each player is seeing him for the first time. Victor Martinez dribbles a single up the middle but Mills strikes out two and gets David Ortiz on a weak grounder to coast through the first.

Mills is a little guy, listed at 5-11, 185. With the retro unis on he looks a bit like a young Jimmy Key, tossing some sweeping curves from the left side. Jacoby Ellsbury and Ortiz both looked pretty bad on a pitch or two.

12:24 p.m.: Looking ahead, the Red Sox will be playing in 100-degree heat the next three days in Texas and facing a trio of pitchers (Tommy Hunter, Colby Lewis, C.J. Wilson) that is 4-0 with a 2.70 ERA in five starts against Boston this year.

That's a long-winded way of saying that the toughest portion of the 10-game road trip may not have been those first four in New York, but the final three in Arlington.

Throw in the fact that the Red Sox were 1-5 in Texas last year and are 31-41 all-time at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Kind of adds a little more importance to Thursday's finale in Toronto, doesn't it? We'll see the first pitch in just a few minutes. The Blue Jays are wearing their retros. Cue those memories of Jesse Barfield throwing runners out from right field at Exhibition Stadium.

11:30 a.m.: Maybe you've already written off the Blue Jays as a playoff-contending team. Can't blame you for that. But up until this series began they held out hope they could make a little noise down the stretch. You'd have to figure this is an absolute must-win game if that's going to be the case.

With a win, Toronto would be nine games behind Tampa Bay in the wild card race. The Jays and Rays meet six more times.

Their chances are slim to none, but slim would go out the window with a third straight loss to the Red Sox.

Here is the Toronto lineup as it looks to remain relevant:

Fred Lewis, DH
Yunel Escobar, SS
Jose Bautista, RF
Vernon Wells, CF
Adam Lind, 1B
Aaron Hill, 2B
Travis Snider, LF
Edwin Encarnacion, 3B
Jose Molina, C

11:10 a.m.: Hate to keep harping on this day/night breakdown for the Red Sox, but the man on the mound Thursday afternoon is always in the middle of it.

John Lackey's day numbers have been noted (1-5, 6.86 ERA), but his one win came in his first day game in a Boston uniform.

Since then, in six afternoon starts, Lackey is 0-5 with 7.64 ERA and has a WHIP of 1.90.

There is nothing to suggest that this would occur. For his career Lackey's day numbers are only slightly worse than at night, but nothing glaring at all. And last year he was 5-1 with a 2.11 ERA under the sun.

Just one of those things I guess, but it has been the major contributor to Boston's 13-18 day record.

10:21 a.m.: Talk about getaway day. Aside from Patriots' Day this is the earliest game the Red Sox will play all season (East Coast time). Early starts have spelled doom before. We will get into all that a little later on. For now, here is your lineup:

Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Jed Lowrie, SS
Victor Martinez, 1B
David Ortiz, DH
Adrian Beltre, 3B
J.D. Drew, RF
Bill Hall, 2B
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Darnell McDonald, LF

Terry Francona had said he would get Jed Lowrie two starts in the series and it looked more and more like one of those would be at shortstop. Marco Scutaro, hitless in 20 straight at-bats, was in dire need of a day off.

So Lowrie goes to short, red-hot Bill Hall gets to stay in at second and Darnell McDonald plays left in place of Ryan Kalish with another lefty on the mound for the Blue Jays.

We will give you all the pregame news and notes going forward.

7 a.m.: Thank goodness for the Blue Jays.

The Red Sox look to continue their dominance of the Jays as they go for their second sweep in Toronto this season in a Thursday matinee at Rogers Centre.

Boston improved to 9-2 against Toronto with a 10-1 rout on Wednesday night. Bill Hall had two of the team's four home runs, and Clay Buchholz improved to 8-2 on the road with eight dominant innings.

The Sox are 15-21 against all other AL East teams.

One issue that has plagued Boston at times this year has been poor play in day games. The club is 13-18 in such affairs, and Thursday's starter John Lackey has been the primary culprit — the right-hander is 1-5 with a 6.86 ERA in the afternoon.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia, after making his Red Sox debut as a substitute on Wednesday night, is expected to get his first start.

Lefty Brad Mills will be making his fifth major league start for the Jays.

First pitch is 12:37 p.m.

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