Thank God for home-field advantage.
When Matt Thornton allowed the requisite last-inning homer by Casey Blake, it didn't end the game! The Sox had three more outs to work with!
And of course, the offense burned the first two when Joe Crede grounded out and Nick Swisher struck out, just to make it interesting.
Alexei Ramirez played the evening's first hero by launching a high fly on a 2-0 Joe Borowski that barely landed in the Sox bullpen, over the outstretched glove of Ben Francisco, to tie the game.
The Sox weren't done. Dewayne Wise followed up with a single, then stole second on the first pitch. That set it up for Orlando Cabrera, who came through with a line drive up the middle that drove in Wise for the win.
For 29/30ths of the evening, it looked like Ramirez's second-inning sacrifice fly would be the game's only run. Cliff Lee kept the door shut after that, getting ahead in the count often by throwing two strikes for every ball.
The Sox only threatened once after that, when A.J. Pierzynski and Carlos Quentin singling to lead off the sixth. Lee hunkered down and threw Jermaine Dye two nasty pitches before inducing a 5-4-3 double play to give him two outs. Jim Thome popped up the first pitch he saw to end the inning.
John Danks matched him pitch-for-pitch, though. His only mistake was a thigh-high fastball to Kelly Shoppach, who deposited it into the left-field stands for the only run he'd allow over eight innings, his longest start of the year.
While he struck out eight, he only used 98 pitches to do so. I thought he could've started the ninth, as he had retired seven of the last eight batters he faced, with a Grady Sizemore single being the only exception. Danks picked off Sizemore (on a balk) to immediately negate it, one of Danks' two pickoffs on the night.
When the ball was put into play, his defense helped him out. Quentin made a couple nice catches in left field, and Swisher used cat-like reflexes to snag an absolute rocket off the bat of Shin-Soo Choo, one that could've meant extra bases and possibly a run. Instead, it ended the seventh.
Record: 48-35 |
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