The optimism stemming from the 14-1 victory over the Indians was short-lived as the Sox got knocked back down again in Baltimore, losing 7-1. Nothing was going for the Sox tonight, with the only positive being the return introduction of Andrew Bailey.
Josh Beckett pitched well through the first 4 innings, surrendering only 1 run, a solo homer. Another run came in the 5th ( another HR), and the trouble came in the 6th. Beckett was charged with 6 runs in his outing, 2 came on a 3-run homer given up by Mark Melancon to Mark Reynolds. Reynolds also hit the solo homer off of Beckett in the previous inning. The final line on Beckett looked like this, 5.1 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, leading to his 10th loss of the season.
I already mentioned that Melancon sucked, so on to Andrew Bailey. After shaking the dust off and walking the first batter he faced in a Red Sox uniform, Bailey struck out the home run machine, Mark Reynolds. That ended the 8th and Bailey's 0.1 inning debut.
I am going on and on about how bad the pitching was and the debut of Andrew Bailey, and I ahve not touched on the offense. Here is the quick version...They got 1 run on 11 hits, with about 400 blown chances to produce runs. The run came on a Carl Crawford single that scored Cody Ross. I won't stop there, let's see how awful they were with runners on base. The Sox left 12 runners on base and were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. The Sox got an unusual 0-for-3 with RISP for Gonzo. Those stats are bad on their own, but when compared to Baltimore's 3 LOB and 3-for-5 with RISP, well, you get the idea.
These games are just painful.
