AP
Well, Nick predicts another Sox sweep and the Sox lose the opener. We'll have a little talk with him. Don't worry.
Daisuke Matsuzaka, who started for the Sox, left in the top of the 5th with "elbow tightness" after throwing 80+ pitches. Before his departure he was throwing a classic Dice-K gem - laboring on the mound, walking 4 batters, but managing to only give up 1 earned run (3 total runs, thanks to an Albers' throwing error in relief).
With Dice-K's early exit, Tito had to burn through 5 relievers, including Bobby Jenks who was awful. He entered the game with a 4-3 Sox lead, and by the time he finished his inning of work, Seattle was up by one.
On the plus side, Cameron homered, Ortiz drove in his 11th run of the year (on a cheesy ground ball that was completely misplayed by Kennedy, but I'll take it), Youk had an RBI, Gonzalez went 2-4 and Ellsbury got a hit to continue his streak.
Unfortunately, the last 12 Sox hitters all went down without a hit to end the game. Lowrie made some solid contact in the top of the 9th that looked like it just may make it over the center field wall (and on a July night it probably would have), but it was just short. As was the Sox effort tonight.
There's always tomorrow.
