Red Sox Live Blog: Sox Can’t Overcome Rough Start From Franklin Morales, Yankees Take First Game 6-1

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Jul 7, 2012

Red Sox Live Blog: Sox Can't Overcome Rough Start From Franklin Morales, Yankees Take First Game 6-1Final, Yankees 6-1: Franklin Morales just didn't give the Red Sox a chance to win Game 1, but the bats didn't help much, either.

Boston couldn't come back from that early deficit after Morales gave up four home runs, and the Yankees take the first of two.

Game 2 is set to begin at 7:15 p.m.

Mid 9th, Yankees 6-1: What a job done by Justin Germano in his Red Sox debut.

The right-hander ended up striking out the last two batters he faced in the ninth to complete his first 1-2-3 inning of the afternoon.

He ended up going 5 2/3 innings without allowing a run, and the Fenway Park fans let him know how they felt about it, as he received a standing ovation from the crowd on the first base side as he walked off the mound after the inning was over.

However, the Sox have their work cut out for them in the ninth inning, trailing 6-1 still.

End 8th, Yankees 6-1: David Ortiz has reached base four times in this game after collecting his third walk in the eighth inning.

If he's going to be batting in the middle of a lineup that looks like this, he is not going to see many strikes at all. There's not much of a point in pitching to him at this point, as the Yankees will gladly let him occupy first base and take their chances with the rest of the lineup.

In almost two games in this series, Ortiz has reached base eight times with four walks and four singles. The Yankees probably don't mind that much at all.

Mid 8th, Yankees 6-1: Justin Germano hasn't thrown a 1-2-3 inning yet, but he continues to throw zeros at the Yankees.

Germano seemed to be in real trouble with a pair of runners on and Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez due up.

However, the right-handed reliever made pitches when he needed to, getting both of the New York sluggers to strike out on curveballs.

Germano now has five strikeouts in his 4 2/3 innings of work.

Of course, the Yankees are stil in command, holding a 6-1 lead as Neil Diamond reminds us we are heading to the bottom of the eighth.

End 7th, Yankees 6-1: Sidearmer Cody Eppley does his job for the Yankees, getting Brent Lillibridge to tap out to shortstop to end the inning.

Bottom 7th, Yankees 6-1: That's going to do it for Freddy Garcia.

The veteran right-hander took full advantage of a makeshift Red Sox lineup, turning in his best start in a long time. He went 6 2/3 innings, gave up just the one run on six hits and threw 97 pitches.

He had the Sox off balance all afternoon, for the most part establishing the strike zone with his fastball and working off of that to get the Sox to chase his secondary stuff. There weren't many hard-hit balls at all through the first seven innings.

Cody Eppley comes on to try and close out the seventh for the Bombers.

Mid 7th, Yankees 6-1: Justin Germano continues to do his job, holding the Yankees at bay for yet another inning.

He's worked 3 2/3 innings and has done a good job tying down an explosive offense that looked like it could have been poised for a double-digit showing in the first game of a doubleheader.

And like we said, you can't say enough about his efforts in eating up innings to help save the bullpen for Game 2.

End 6th, Yankees 6-1: The misery continues for the Red Sox offense.

David Ortiz worked a four-pitch walk to lead off the inning, but a questionable base-running decision ended up costing the Sox dearly.

Adrian Gonzalez hit a ball to the warning track, but Andruw Jones leaped up in front of the Monster to haul it in. Ortiz was then caught too far off the bag at first, and the Yankees were able to relay the ball back to the infield and double off Ortiz at first.

The play looked close, and the fans let first base umpire Lance Barrett have it, but you have to question why Ortiz was that far off the bag. If that ball does hit the wall, it would have ricocheted back toward the infield allowing him to get to third had he been halfway. Instead, it kills the inning.

By the way, Jones is having a terrific day, adding that defensive gem to his two home runs.

Mid 6th, Yankees 6-1: More good work from Justin Germano there in the sixth inning, as he was able to work around a one-out single from Derek Jeter by getting Mark Teixeira to strike out and then inducing a fielder's choice out of Alex Rodriguez. There's currently no one warming in the Boston bullpen, so Germano's day may not be done. If he can give the club another inning or two, it may be a big boost heading into the nightcap, as it will help preserve Bobby Valentine's bullpen.

End 5th, Yankees 6-1: The Red Sox showed a little bit of life in the fifth with two-out singles from Brent Lillibridge and Daniel Nava, but Pedro Ciriaco quickly killed the mini rally.

With Garcia's pitch count climbing and in a bit of a jam, Ciriaco helped him out by swinging at the first pitch — a curveball no less — and hitting a weak tapper back to the mound.

Garcia looks good through five innings, but a lot of that has to do with the Red Sox approach at the plate right now.

Mid 5th, Yankees 6-1: It hasn't been incredibly impressive or anything, but Justin Germano has given the Sox 1 2/3 scoreless innnings of relief thus far.

He looked to be in trouble in the fifth after giving up a one-out double to Robinson Cano and then walking Nick Swisher, but he was able to get out of it unscathed.

Andruw Jones' quest for his third home run was denied by Germano who got the outfielder swinging to end a long at-bat.

End 4th, Yankees 6-1: There's even more good news, as the Red Sox won't be no-hit or even shut out. David Ortiz lined a single off of the left field wall to lead off the inning and break up any attempts at a no-hitter. Adrian Gonzalez followed with a single of his own, and then Mauro Gomez lined a 2-0 pitch to right-center to give Boston its first run of the game.

Mid 4th, Yankees 6-0: Well, if you're looking for good news as a Red Sox fan, at least Justin Germano came in and did his job. The journeyman right-hander was able to retire Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira to end the inning, but the Yankees push the lead to six as the Sox come to the plate in the fourth looking for their first hit.Top 4th, Yankees 6-0: That is just an extremely forgettable performance from Franklin Morales.

The lefty, who had been outstanding as a start until now, had a miserable day in the opener of the doubleheader.

Morales was tagged for back-to-back home runs for the second time in four innings, as Andruw Jones and Jayson Nix hit consecutive blasts over the Monster.

The Fenway press box announcer summed it up best with this announcement. "That is the fifth time the Yankees have gone back-to-back this season. The last time was in the first inning."

Justin Germano comes on to try and fix the mess with one out and a runner on second after Mauro Gomez committed a fielding error at third that chased Morales.

End 3rd, Yankees 4-0: This is getting ugly in terms of the Red Sox offense.

Freddy Garcia is slicing up the Boston lineup, mixing in everything and throwing strikes as he does it. The veteran right-hander has set down the last seven he's faced, and the David Ortiz walk in the first remains his only blemish.

There was a potentially scary moment in the bottom of the third when Kelly Shoppach lost hold of his bat while swingning and missing at stirke three. The bat appeared to just miss a youngster in the crowd, so that was the good news. The bad news, of course, was that Shoppach had become Garcia's fourth strikeout victim.

Mid 3rd, Yankees 4-0: It looked like Franklin Morales was about to get into more trouble after allowing Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez to reach base to open the inning.

But the left-hander helped himself out with a stirkeout of Robinson Cano followed by a pickoff of Rodriguez at first base.

He then walked Nick Swisher, but it actually worked out in the end, as Morales was also able to pick off Swisher at first.

End 2nd, Yankees 4-0: Freddy Garcia makes it look easy — real easy — as he breezes through the second inning on just a handful of pitches.

The Sox went down easily, too, as a Ryan Kalish strikeout looking was followed up by a lazy first-pitch flyout to right off the bat of Mike Aviles.

The Sox are working uphill as it is, both in terms of the score and with their lineup, so they're going to need much better at-bats against a junk-balling Garcia if they're going to get back into this game.

Mid 2nd, Yankees 4-0: It wouldn't take much, but Franklin Morales turns in a much better effort in the second inning.

He gets the Yankees in order, including getting former teammate Darnell McDonald to foul out to first.

McDonald, who made his Yankees debut on Friday night, gets his first start here in Game 1. It was pretty cool to hear Jay-Z playing from the speakers as he came to the plate, as the Sox played the outfielder's former walk-up music when he came to the plate in the second.

End 1st, Yankees 4-0: There's really not much Bobby Valentine can do differently with the lineup at this point, but the first inning went about how you would expect upon first looking at the starting nine. The Red Sox went down easily, aside from a David Ortiz two-out walk, and the Red Sox are chasing four after just one inning on a huge day for them.

Mid 1st, Yankees 4-0: This is Franklin Morales' biggest start since moving to the Red Sox rotation, and it's already his worst.

Morales surrendered a Derek Jeter leadoff single before getting the next two baters in order. However, he then hit Robinson Cano with a 94 mph changeup which extended the inning for Nick Swisher.

Swisher made Morales pay dearly by blasting a three-run home run into the Monster Seats, his 13th home run of the year. The blast snapped an 0-for-17 skid for Swisher.

Andruw Jones followed with a line drive homer to left, an absolute bullet that got out in a hurry to push the lead to 4-0.

This is about as bad of a start as you can get, especially given the fact that you still have at least 17 more innings you have to worry about on the day.

12:38 p.m.: The lights are on, Franklin Morales' first pitch to Derek Jeter is a strike, and we're under way in what promises to be a long day of baseball from Fenway Park.

12:30 p.m.: Country music star Trace Adkins sang the national anthem for Game 1. For those who don't know Adkins' music, he's a deep-singing country boy who is built like a house. Maybe the Sox should see if he wants to get an at-bat or two this afternoon.

12:25 p.m.: Freddy Garcia will make just his sixth start of the season in Game 1 in a place where he's had some success over his career, at least in terms of wins and losses.Garcia is 3-1 in nine career starts at Fenway, but that comes with a 5.05 ERA. A lot of that, of course, can be attributed to a pretty potent Yankees lineup.

11:30 a.m.: Now that we've got the injury updates out of the way, let's get to the lineups for Game 1.

For the Red Sox, it ain't pretty.

Red Sox
Daniel Nava, LF
Pedro Ciriaco, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Mauro Gomez, 3B
Ryan Kalish, CF
Mike Aviles, SS
Kelly Shoppach, C
Brent Lillibridge, RF

Yankees
Derek Jeter, DH
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Robinson Cano, 2B
Nick Swisher, RF
Andruw Jones, LF
Jayson Nix, SS
Darnell McDonald, CF
Chris Stewart, C

11:10 a.m. ET: Good morning from an overcast Fenway Park where the Red Sox and Yankees will play two — or so we think.

For what it's worth, the tarp is on the field right now as a light rain falls from grey skies.

Things were pretty quiet in the clubhouse with the quick turnaround from last night's marathon, but there are plenty of injury updates to get to.

First, Carl Crawford's rehab has been put on hold for now. The outfielder suffered what the team is calling a mild left groin strain during a rehab stint on Thursday night. Bobby Valentine said that Crawford suffered the injury going around second while hitting a triple Thursday night with Portland. However, Valentine didn't think the injury is anything more than a minor setback.

Meanwhile, Clay Buchholz is getting close to returning. He's set to throw about 40 pitches on Sunday at Pawtucket, and Valentine was hopeful that the right-hander could be back for the first series after the All-Star break if all goes well.

Jacoby Ellsbury will play in Pawtucket on Sunday night as he continues his own rehab assignment.

Meanwhile, Will Middlebrooks ran in the outfield this morning, but it's still unclear where he's at with his hamstring. Valentine said that the young third baseman would "probably not" play in the nightcap, but the manager also said that he may pinch hit at some point Saturday. So there's that.

Finally, Clayton Mortensen is the 26th man on today's roster. Because of the doubleheader the teams are allowed to add a player to the roster, and the Red Sox decided to add some depth in the bullpen with a versatile arm in Mortensen. However, MLB rules state that he must be sent down before Sunday's game, so it's a brief stay for the right-hander.

8 a.m. ET: The Red Sox certainly have their work cut out for them.

Boston entered this weekend's four-game series with the Yankees looking for a momentum-swinging set, and after a loss on Friday night, the Sox really have their work cut out for them.Boston has little time to think about a 10-8 series-opening loss, as they get set to host a day-night doubleheader on Saturday, a day that could potentially have some pretty large implications on the rest of the season. Just hours after dropping a marathon decision to their AL East rivals, the Red Sox are left to pick up the pieces beginning with the first half of the twinbill on Saturday afternoon.

Franklin Morales, who has been a pleasant surprise upon his move to the starting rotation, will be called upon to get things going in a positive direction for the Sox in Game 1 of the doubleheader. The southpaw has been impressive to say the least since his move to the rotation, and he's coming off arguably his best start of the season. Prior to working a 1 1/3 innings of relief on Wednesday, Morales threw seven shutout innings last Friday in Seattle, his latest case to stay in the starting rotation.

He now has three starts under his belts, giving up just four earned runs in 18 innings to go along with 24 strikeouts in three starts. He'll face his biggest challenge to this point on Saturday afternoon, though,  when he takes on a dangerous Yankees lineup.

He'll be opposed in Game 1 by Freddy Garcia who also recently made the jump to the Yankees rotation.

First pitch of Game 1 is slated for 12:35 p.m. with NESN coverage beginning at 11:30 a.m.

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