Jon Garland nearly gave the Sox their first back-to-back shutouts since 1994, but more on that later.
What's important to note about this game is that with less than two outs and a runner on third, our designated hitter...
...bunted.
Yup. This is what happens when Pablo Ozuna starts at DH. In a position where the only job is to swing the bat, Ozuna chose not to. The result was a pop-out to first, and the Royals kept the game a two-run deficit.
But that's not the worst part. Ozuna actually failed to provide an insurance run twice. In the eighth inning, Ozuna was on third when Paul Konerko came to the plate and hit a medium-range flyball to right. Mark Teahan has a very good arm out in right field, but even with a perfect throw, Ozuna could've gotten to the plate in time. Instead, Teahan threw Ozuna out at home.
The problem was that Ozuna slid right into John Buck's foot, about five feet in front of the plate. A semi-creative slide -- say, a hook slide or an angled head-first dive, gives the Sox a 3-0 lead. Instead, Ozuna went for the regular old slide, right on the chalk, right into Buck. It nearlystopped Ozuna in his tracks, and gave Buck plenty of time to place the tag.
The lack of a run nearly cost the Sox, because Jon Garland, who pitched 8 1/3 brilliant innings, gave up a leadoff ground-rule double to Esteban German in the ninth, giving the Royals three shots to tie the game. After a pop-out, Mark Grudzielanek cut the lead in half with an RBI double, but Matt Thornton would blow away Teahan, and Bobby Jenks would get a lineout off the bat of Sox killer Mike Sweeney right at Joe Crede to end the game.
Garland did what he's been doing -- getting ahead in the count and getting bad contact in place of strikeouts. He only fanned three Royals, but the moment that best symbolizes his start was a 1-0 pitch to Sweeney. Sweeney began to swing, as the ball looked to be right down the middle of the plate. But as he swung, the ball nearly hit his hands, and Sweeney had to arch his back to get out of the way of the pitch as his bat came through the zone and fouled it off. He's getting some nasty movement on that two-seamer, as evidenced by the 15 groundouts.
Fortunately Garland was on his game, because the Sox offense had met its standards, too. While the Sox only scored two runs, it's sadder because only one was legit -- A.J. Pierzynski's homer off lefty Odalis Perez into the Bullpen Sports Bar. The other came on what should've been an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play from Darin Erstad, but Tony Pena Jr. pulled a Tony Graffanino and made the toss to second before the ball got to his mitt. It rolled into left field, and Juan Uribe crossed the plate.
Record: 17-15 |
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