Four Real? Four at Bats that Changed the Game. Red Sox vs White Sox 5-21-13

Pitcher's battle ends in White Sox favor, 3-1.

If I told you Felix Doubront pitched six innings and only gave up two runs, you would probably predict that the Red Sox had the lead. If I told you that Jose Quintana was facing Doubront, you would then laugh and bet me that Boston was going to win tonight. Well, Quintana pitched brilliantly and brought a no-hitter into the seventh inning until David Ortiz broke it up with a broken bat single. It was a pitcher's duel tonight, folks. Laugh it up now, but Quintana and Doubront looked nice. Here are the four at bats that changed the game:

1) Bottom of the fifth inning, and Dayan Viciedo breaks the silence with a single. Light hitting Jeff Keppinger swings at the first pitch he sees and buries the fastball into the fourth row of the left field bleachers to put the White Sox up 2-0. It was Keppinger's first homerun of the season.

2) Top of the seventh and Boston finally gets to Quintana. David Ortiz breaks up the no-no with a single to left field. Mike Napoli and Daniel Nava also follow up with singles to load the bases. Jesse Crain comes on to relieve Quintana and gets the job done. He throws Will Middlebrooks only one strike, but Middlebrooks swings at ball-four for a strikeout, and his two strike change-up fools Stephen Drew to escape the jam. White Sox still hold on to a 2-0 lead.

3) Top of the eighth inning, and even with help by the White Sox, the Red Sox can not do much to come back. A walk and single put two men on for the Red Sox, and a passed ball puts them on second and third. An error by Alexi Ramirez brings home a run to cut the lead in half, but David Ortiz swings at pitcher Matt Lindstrom's first pitch, a sinker ball, and grounds into a KILLER double play to end the momentum. 2-1 White Sox.

4) Bottom of the eighth inning, and the White Sox get one back to pad the lead. With Alex Wilson pitching, and two outs in the inning, Alexi Ramirez singles and Alex Rios doubles him home to give the White Sox a 3-1 lead late in the game. As an important note, every run the White Sox have scored this series versus the Red Sox has been with two outs. The Red Sox pitching staff has just not been able to put the White Sox to sleep late in each inning, and in the end, it kills them again. Final Score, 3-1 White Sox. Tomorrow, Boston plays the White Sox at 8:10pm when Clay Buchholz faces Hector Santiago. Fortunately for the Red Sox, staff ace Chris Sale will not pitch because of a light injury.

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