Commenting on ex-Red Sox Mark Loretta’s 3 run homer on Saturday, manager Terry Francona admitted “I always hated him.” Loretta, the accidental Astro, increased the enmity Sunday with a game winning single in the 8th to beat the World Series incumbents 3-2.
The pitching matchup appeared lopsided at the start. However, by the 3rd the score was tied 1-1. While both pitchers got to the same place, they took different routes. Beckett was finding the corners with an economy of pitches. But he gave up a homerun in the 2nd when Blum reached up and dumped a high fastball into the right field seats. Meanwhile Moehler was trying to get the patient Red Sox hitters to chase pitches just out of the zone. He didn’t have much luck but was able to work out of jams, notably a bases loaded situation in the 1st. In the top the 3rd the pesky Pedroia tied the score popping a pitch low and in into the back of the Crawford Boxes.
The tide seemed to turn in the 5th. Somehow Moehler was slowly getting the Red Sox to swing at pitches out of the zone. The fact that homeplate ump Paul Nauret was keeping the actual dimensions of the zone a secret didn’t hurt. This also forced the Astros hitters to expand their idea of what was a hittable pitch and they began to chip away.
Beckett’s frustrations boiled over in the bottom of the 5th when he issued a one out walk to the pitcher Moehler. Bourn followed that with a grounder to 3rd and outran the back end of the double play. Pence grounded slowly to the right of short and Lugo gave the swift runner even more time to beat the throw by circling to the back of the ball.
On a 3-1 count, Berkman was able to lay back on a changeup, the same pitch he swung through in the 4th. The pitch, as shown by Pitch Tracker, was the only strike of the at bat and Berkman shot it past the mound and into center for a run scoring single. Lee ended the inning grounding out to Beckett who flung the ball to first and then came off the field screaming, pitching a fit in the dugout, going so far as to pick out a bat and pound on the bat rack.
Moehler made it through 2 outs in the 6th. Leaving with runners 1st and 3rd for Wright to deal with. Wright dug a deeper hole walking the first batter but escaped the inning striking out the dangerous Pedroia swinging.
Villareal made a cameo appearance in the 7th, thrilling half the crowd as he heaved up a high fastball that Ramirez popped into the home bullpen to tie the score at 2.
Brocail strode out, snatched the ball from Villareal, his recently shorn beard growing at the rate of an inch a minute, plowed through the next 5 batters, striking out 3; Wade has the mirror, Brocail provided the smoke.
In the bottom of the 8th, with one out, Tejada fought the reliever Aardsma through an eight pitch at bat. Tejada won the confrontation, singling to center. Okajima replaced Aardsma to face Blum. After uncorking a wild pitch that ushered Tejada to 2nd, Okajima fielded Blum’s hot shot back to the mound, throwing out Blum and stopping Tejada from advancing. This is where Cooper pinch hit Loretta for Brocail. On a 1-2 count Loretta guided a low changeup over 2nd, Tejada raced home clapping and pointing out to Loretta. Berkman was in the dugout aiming air high fives out to Loretta at first.
In the 9th, Valverde gave up a one out walk to Ramirez. Then induced a tailor made groundball just to Blum’s left. Blum moved over, scooped and sailed the short toss wide to Newhan, who was able to make the play at 2nd but couldn’t complete the play to 1st. The next batter, the fidgety Youkilis, popped the first pitch high to Erstad in left to complete the save. Valverde, instead of the usual sky pointing and arm shaking, came off the mound with a smile and his eyes wide in relief.