Tonight showed that the Sox offense may not have to improve all that much with runners in scoring position -- as long as the pitchers step it up in the clutch like they did tonight. If that's the case, a little bit of hitting goes a long way.
John Danks was in danger of squandering a 2-0 lead provided by a Carlos Quentin RBI single and a Jim Thome double when he started the bottom of the third allowing four of the first five batters he faced to reach. Carl Crawford's single cut the lead in half, and Danks walked B.J. Upton to load the bases, it could have gotten scary in a hurry.
Danks manned up, striking out Carlos Pena and getting Evan Longoria to ground into a 5-4 fielder's choice, and his night was a little bit easier after that.
It might've been a walk in the park had he been able to hold runners -- or A.J. Pierzynski been able to throw them out. Jason Bartlett stole second and third in the fifth inning, two of the Rays' four swipes on the night. But Danks got two routine flyouts to center and a grounder to third to strand Bartlett at third, and ultimately shut down a very good offense by scattering six hits and a walk over six innings. The eight strikeouts helped plenty.
It looked a little scary for the Sox offense early, when Jim Thome reached third with one out in the second inning and failed to score him. Nick Swisher hit a shallow fly to left and Alexei Ramirez struck out to keep the game scoreless.
Paul Konerko extinguished another rally by grounding into a first-pitch 5-4-3 double play in the fifth, but Joe Crede started off the sixth with a blast to left field to stretch the lead, and the Sox gained their momentum back. Swisher doubled off the left-field wall and scored on Orlando Cabrera's double -- although Cabrera eliminated the chance of Quentin coming to the plate by getting thrown out at third base yet again.
Konerko them picked himself up by crushing a first-pitch fastball into the catwalk for his first homer in 108 plate appearances, which was a career-long power drought.
The 5-1 lead made it unnecessary to use Octavio Dotel, in my mind. Matt Thornton pitched a 1-2-3-4 (he should've been out after three, but Crede made an inexplicable throwing error again), and could've easily been used for two. JHopefully it won't matter . It didn't tonight -- Dotel gave up a leadoff double to start the eighth but pitched around it, and Boone Logan closed it out for a much-needed win.
Record: 30-23 |
Box score |
Play-by-play