Game 29: Different pitchers, same game...

Red Sox 2
Blue Jays 1

The Red Sox pulled off another last minute win last night beating the Blue Jays 2-3 with a Jason Varitek RBI single in the 9th.

Dustin McGowan (7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 5 K) went toe to toe with Daisuke (7 IP, 2 H, 4 K) for seven innings, but eventually made a mistake to David Ortiz... and Big Papi put that mistake into the right field seats.

Tito turned to Manny Delcarmen in the 8th but MDC allowed Adam Lind to reach and was quickly (and surprisingly) yanked for Okajima... Okie would give up a double to Greg Zaun and put two Jays in scoring position with no outs.

Alex Rios, who could of easily put the Jays up 3-1, merely hit a sac fly to tie the game before Okajima settled down and struck out Eckstien and Rolen to end the inning.

Toronto held off the Sox in the 8th and Papelbon did his job in the 9th... along with another great play from Pedroia to end the inning... dejavu...

Then Ortiz opened the bottom of the 9th with a single and Manny worked a walk, thwarting his chances at #497 again. This time Tito did replace Ortiz with Jed Lowrie, but Mike Lowell would strike out looking... leaving Brandon Moss and Jason Varitek...

Moss would hit a Yuke-like single up the middle, but Vernon Wells was up to the task and gunned out Lowrie at home plate. With Manny opting to stay at second, it looked like extra innings were on the way, but another single up the middle from The Captain enabled Manny to beat Wells' second throw to the plate - and the Sox pulled another win out after getting just 4 hits through 8 innings.

BL Hero: Like yesterday, I'll give this to Dice-K and Vartiek.

Bottom Line: My April Prediction was almost dead on... and I think it's worth noting that the main point of the post was that Fenway Park = success for the Red Sox. They are now 11-4 at home and just 6-8 on the road... but the Sox will play just 11 home games in May with 18 road games and just two days off...

Notes: Matsuzaka has allowed just 20 hits in six starts covering 35 2-3 innings this season... Ortiz’s homer snapped Boston’s streaks of 39 innings without an extra-base hit and 44 innings without a homer... J.D. Drew also sat out with tightness in his left thigh that forced him out of Tuesday’s game in the fourth. “He is not worse,” Francona said of Drew, “but not good enough to send him out there.”

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