News
Sox snap skid with gritty win over Tigers
Green's sac fly in seventh ends Boston's six-game slide
By John Barone / MLB.com
08/11/09 12:58 AM ET
BOSTON -- The Red Sox's "new season," as termed by Dustin Pedroia, is off to a perfect start.One night after the reigning American League Most Valuable Player vowed that his team won't surrender its season following a six-game losing streak to the Rays and Yankees, the Red Sox backed up the second baseman's words on Monday night with a 6-5 victory over the Tigers at Fenway Park.
Pedroia belted a first-inning two-run home run for Boston, which moved within 5 1/2 games of first place New York in the American League East while assuming a half-game lead over idle Texas in the Wild Card race.
"It was nice," Pedroia said of cracking the win column. "We've been having a tough time scoring runs lately, but we're back home now. All we can do is play the rest of the season as hard as we can, and whatever happens, happens. We're going to remain positive. I know we had a tough road trip, but there are a lot of games left.
"We still feel like we can accomplish our goals."
Boston built a quick 4-0 lead thanks to homers from Pedroia and Nick Green, who led off the second by roping a 3-2 fastball from Tigers starter Edwin Jackson over the Green Monster. David Ortiz added an RBI single later in the inning to plate Jacoby Ellsbury.
"It was good to see that," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said of the early runs, which followed a dreadful weekend against the Yankees in which Boston's bats were held scoreless for 31 innings.
"When you're not scoring runs, I don't think it's because guys are nervous," Francona said. "You want to see some results. I think that's human nature to press a little bit or do too much. We came out against a guy [in Jackson] that's been really good this year. He was over the plate with some pitches, and we squared up a lot of balls. We stayed at it and took some good swings."
Detroit came off the mat in the fourth, when right fielder J.D. Drew misplayed a ball in the corner that resulted in an RBI triple for Magglio Ordonez. Brandon Inge then laced an RBI single up the middle to halve the Red Sox's lead.
Marcus Thames notched a sacrifice fly one inning later to pull the Tigers (59-52) within a run, but Jason Bay answered in the bottom of the fifth with a solo blast over the Monster.
Aiming to pitch into the seventh inning for just the fifth time this season, Boston starter Brad Penny was lifted after 93 pitches. The right-hander tossed six innings of three-run ball despite feeling under the weather.
"I think he felt lethargic all day," Francona said of Penny, who vomited before coming out for the sixth. "There wasn't as much power behind everything, as we've seen. Physically, it felt like he wasn't there. I thought he gave us all he had."
Detroit erased its 5-3 deficit in the seventh against Manny Delcarmen, who allowed an RBI single to Placido Polanco before Thames stroked a towering double off the Monster to plate the second baseman.
Given the events of the past week, the Sox could have folded as the Tigers mounted their comeback. But true to Pedroia's promise, they refused to yield.
"We just played a couple games that [stunk], but we're not going to say, 'Oh no, we're going to lose,'" Pedroia said. "We're not a team that's built like that. We've got a bunch of tough guys who play as hard they can for the whole nine innings."
Boston plated the go-ahead run in the home half of the seventh, as Casey Kotchman's hit-and-run single set the stage for Green, who lofted a fly ball to center off Zach Miner (5-2) that was deep enough to score Drew from third.
"I just tried to get a ball in the air," Green said. "We needed that run big time. Kotchman and J.D. had an awesome hit-and-run to get us first and third, so to be able to get a sac fly out of it was great."
Called on to extinguish a two-on, two-out situation in the eighth created by Ramon Ramirez (6-3), Jonathan Papelbon induced a foul out off the bat of Curtis Granderson before working a 1-2-3 ninth to nail down his 28th save.
After a week to forget, all that concerns the Red Sox is looking forward.
"Regardless of what happened the last six games, that has no bearing on today," Bay said. "We needed to come out, get a strong start and jump on their guy early. Ultimately, we pulled it out. I don't want to say it was a game we had to have, but we kind of weathered the storm a little bit."
John Barone is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
