Seattle Mariners 7 Boston Red Sox 8 (May 3, 2007)
| 4
|
| |||
|
0 votes 
0 commentsManny's Bat Bails Out Dice-K, Red Sox
Manny Ramirez broke out of his season-long slump in a big way, clubbing two home runs including a giant go-ahead jack in the 8th inning to propel his Boston Red Sox (18-9, 1st in AL East) to a 8-7 win over the Seattle Mariners (12-11, 2nd in AL West). In a game where both starters were hit hard and early, Boston's offense and bullpen ended up being the heroes and belatedly winning the rain-postponed 3-game series with Seattle.
| W: | Brendan Donnelly | (1-1, 1.08) |
| L: | Chris Reitsma | (0-1, 4.35) |
| S: | J.C. Romero | (1, 4.32) |
Neither starter figured in the decision, as both struggled early. Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka could not find his control with a map in the first inning, walking the first three batters he faced and hitting the next. He pitched 5 innings and earned all 7 runs the Mariners scored, while only giving up 6 hits. He walked five and only struck out one in what was easily his worst outing in a Red Sox uniform. Seattle starter Horacio Ramirez fared even worse, allowing 11 hits and 7 earned runs in 4 innings, while walking three and striking out four.
The bullpens were largely a different story. The Red Sox pen, true to form, only gave up one hit in the four innings they pitched in relief of Matsuzaka, a single off of Kyle Snyder. Brendan Donnelly (W, 1-1) pitched 1 1/3 hitless innings and picked up the win, while J.C. Romero (S, 1) picked up his first save of the year; Jonathan Papelbon was still unavailable after his 35-pitch outing against the A's on Tuesday. Julio Mateo pitched two strong innings for Seattle, and Chris Reitsma looked dominant against 8 of the 9 batters he faced. Unfortunately for him and the Mariners, the one batter he didn't dominate was Ramirez, who sent the go-ahead home run into the deepest part of the park in the 8th inning, his second of the game and 5th on the year.
Julio Lugo went 1-5 for the Red Sox, knocking in two runs with a double. Mike Lowell continued his hot hitting, going 3-4, and Wily Mo Pena had four hits. Jose Guillen had 3 hits and 3 RBIs for the Mariners, and shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt added two hits and two RBIs as well. Ichiro Suzuki remained hitless against his countryman Matsuzaka, going 0-3 with two walks and a stolen base.
Coming Up Next: The Red Sox visit the Metrodome to take on the Minnesota Twins in three games over the weekend. Tim Wakefield (2-3, 2.59) faces Carlos Silva (2-1, 3.10) in the first game on Friday.
The Mariners head to the Bronx to meet a seemingly rejuvenated New York Yankees club for three. Cha Seung Baek (0-0, 4.22) makes his third start of the season and faces Kei Igawa (2-1, 6.08), who saved himself from the bullpen last weekend against the Red Sox with a strong six innings in emergency relief of the injured Jeff Karstens.
Date
May 3, 2007
