Overtimes and extra innings haven't been too kind to Boston sports teams in the past two nights as Thursday night it was the Red Sox who fell to the Orioles 5-4 in 13 innings. The Red Sox rallied from a 4-2 deficit to force the extra frames, but could not pull out the win.
The Orioles scored the game-winning run on a two-out, bloop single to left from Chris Davis off of Sox reliever Alex Wilson in the bottom of the 13th. For Wilson it was his third inning of relief, and really didn't deserve the losing fate as he had allowed just one hit until getting two outs in the 13th.
The Red Sox bats were kept quiet for the most part as they could only manage nine hits in the 13-inning affair led by Will Middlebrooks' two. They tied the game by scoring two runs in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly from Stephen Drew and then a fielder's choice from Jacoby Ellsbury as he was able to beat out a double-play attempt. David Ortiz and Mike Carp accounted for the first two runs as they hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth.
Starter Felix Doubront continued his season-long trend of not being able to go deep into games as the left-hander went 4 2/3 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits, while throwing 103 pitches. Franklin Morales, Andrew Miller, Junichi Tazawa and Craig Breslow then went on to throw 5 1/3 scoreless innings of relief, continuing to show how dominant the bullpen can be.
The teams will be back on the field tomorrow night (7:05, NESN) as Ryan Dempster will get the start for the Sox and take on Chris Tillman of the Orioles.
What they'll be saying: After getting four consecutive consistent starts from Doubront going into the sixth inning, the pitcher reverted back to his old ways of not being able to get deep into games as he just went 4 2/3 innings Thursday night. The issue for him remains his inability to put hitters away with two strikes, which in turn raises his pitch counts and limits him from going deep into games ... The Red Sox had opportunities to put some runs on the board, but went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Ellsbury and Drew were the only two players in the lineup not to record a hit.
