Red Sox Wire
Masterson’s effort soiled by Sox bullpen
April 24, 2008
The Red Sox were all lined up for a clean getaway on Thursday afternoon. Highly touted prospect Justin Masterson, summoned from Double-A Portland for an emergency start from, pitched brilliantly.But once he exited after six fine innings — two hits, one run, four walks, four strikeouts — it all fell apart. A collective bullpen meltdown in the top of the seventh inning led to the disappearance of a two-run lead and, ultimately, a 7-5 loss to the Angels in the rubber match of the three-game series.
After the game, the Sox packed their bags and headed to St. Petersburg, Fla., for a three-game series against the Rays. During a seven-game homestand in which several players were sidelined by the flu while others remained idled by injures, Boston managed to go 5-2.
Masterson, known for his sinkerball, got 11 out of his 18 outs on the ground. He threw 95 pitches.
Immediately after he left, the bullpen got into trouble. Javier Lopez opened what turned out to be a four-run seventh, giving up a walk and a hit. On came Manny Delcarmen. The right-hander, who had been sidelined with the flu the last two days, walked Mike Napoli. Then Delcarmen got a grounder to the right side that first baseman Kevin Youkilis tried to make a play on, but it wound up as an RBI infield single to bring the Angels within one.
With the bases still loaded with nobody out, Sox manager Terry Francona looked for Hideki Okajima to bail the team out of a sticky situation. But Okajima was greeted with a game-tying RBI single from Chone Figgins and a go-ahead, two-run single by Gary Matthews Jr.
The Red Sox had a chance to blow this one open early, loading the bases with nobody out in the second. But Julio Lugo and Kevin Cash both stuck out. In between, Coco Crisp got a run home on a fielder’s-choice grounder to make it 1-0.
Masterson kept it right there until the Sox extended their lead in the bottom of the fourth. With one on and two outs, Crisp drilled a ground-rule double to right-center to bring home Youkilis. Cash followed with another ground-rule double, making it 3-0.
The Angels got one back in the fifth, when Napoli hammered a solo homer to left. Other than that, the Angels accomplished next to nothing against Masterson.
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