Boy, the Sox managed to take a dump in this series in every way possible. In the second game, it was piss-poor execution and a Buehrle blow-up. In the third, it was a flailing offense that was shut out for the first time all season.
In tonight’s finale, the offense finally came through, but the bullpen couldn’t hold it. The Sox finished up the road trip 2-7, their worst of the season to date.
The Sox offense only had five hits on the night, but it resulted in eight runs due in large part to timely hitting by Jermaine Dye. Jermaine hit two homers and had five RBI on the night as the Sox finally managed to take advantage of having baserunners.
Unfortunately, Sox pitching couldn’t hold it. It was terrible all night, as Jose Contreras had his worst start since July 19, 2005 against Detroit. He resembled the 2004 version of himself, falling behind in counts, bouncing his splitter, and his slider was non-existant. He was living and dying with the fastball, and dying more often than not.
Contreras gave up six earned runs on the night, though two came after Matt Thornton entered the game with two runners on and let them score, one via the sacrifice fly, and another on a Jason Michaels homer that gave the Indians the lead. Fortunately Dye would bail out Contreras with a three-run homer that would give Chicago the lead back, keeping his 17-start undefeated streak intact.
The bullpen couldn’t hold it, with Ronnie Belliard striking the big blow off Brandon McCarthy. He came on when Thornton walked Victor Martinez and allowed a Ben Broussard single with no outs. He got Casey Blake to pop up, but then he lost a nine-pitch battle with Belliard when, after Belliard was late on five straight fastballs, McCarthy threw him a change right down the heart of the plate. Belliard blasted it over the left field wall to give the Tribe a 10-8 lead, and they wouldn’t give it back.
Nobody knew how to pitch the Indians. When Broussard came to the plate for the fifth time on the night, Ed Farmer commented on how Broussard only saw seven pitches in his first four appearances, and that Neal Cotts would have to give him something out of the zone to keep the Cleveland first baseman honest. Sure enough, Cotts hangs a slider and Broussard jumps on it for the Indians’ 12th and final run.
On the list of terrible losses, this one might be the most painful to date.
Record: 33-20 | Box score | Play-by-play