Four Real? Red Sox vs Orioles 6-13-13

Game 68: Extra Innings loss

Boston and Baltimore went into extra innings Thursday night, the second time this week the Red Sox have played extra frames. As each inning passes, John Farrell must get more and more nervous about which pitcher he will have to over work, as all of these extra innings will add up and hurt a pitching staff quicker than you can say "Joel Hanrahan!" Felix Doubront really needed to carry the pitching staff today, but he could only muster 4.2 innings with 103 pitches. Boston needed more from him, but the offense helped keep it even to bring the game into overtime (whoops, still thinking Bruins game). Here are the four at bats that changed the game:

1) 3 in the 3rd Bottom of the third inning, and Felix Doubront doesn't start off well. Danny Valencia cracks a homerun to begin the frame, and Baltimore adds four more hits (Ryan Flaherty double, Manny Machado, Nick Markakis and Chris Davis singles) in the inning to continue the scoring. When it's all done, Doubront head is spinning, and the Orioles lead 3-0.

2) Back to back. Top of the fourth inning, and with the O's up, Boston needs to respond soon. Young pitcher Kevin Gausman gets the first two men out, but facing David Ortiz, Gausman makes a rookie mistake and throws a fastball and gets it smacked for a solo shot. Mike Carp, who entered the game as a substitute to Mike Napoli in the third inning, pops a low and inside 2-2 pitch to the center field stands to bring the Sox within one run. 3-2 O's.

3) Rally Time. Top of the seventh inning, and Boston is down 4-2. To begin the inning, Boston loads the bases on three straight singles by Daniel Nava, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Will Middlebrooks. Stephen Drew steps up against pitcher Brian Matusz and cracks a long fly ball to center field. It looked good enough to be a grandslam, but it stays in the park and scores a run on a sacrifice fly. Jacoby Ellsbury rolls a ball over to second base, but John Flaherty can not turn it quickly enough, and Ellsbury just beats out the double play ball to score another run. The extra effort by Ellsbury gives the Red Sox an extra life and carries them into extra innings.
4)Bottom of the 13th, and Alex Wilson is rolling. After he records two outs, he unravels. Nick Markakis walks, Adam Jones singles, and Chris Davis hits a weak popup that lands in shallow left center field to score the winning run, and the O's walkoff winners.

You hate to see the Red Sox lose this way, but they just didn't get it done when they needed to. Boston remains three games up on the Yankees, as they lose in 18 innings today.

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