The Sox made a surprise national television appearance today, finishing the series with Toronto on TBS. The Sox started out strong from the word go. Beckett was nasty through the first three innings, hitting 98 mph with his fastball, and Jacoby Elsbury went ya'd in the 3rd. Things got tough in the bottom of the fourth, however, as Beckett's pitch count went from 45(ish) at the start of the inning to 70 by the end of it. He also gave up a two-run shot to Wells. Luckily, Manny showed a real flash of leather in the bottom of the 4th and 'Tek put one out to straight away centerfield at the top of the 5th to tie things at 2-2.
Unfortunately, the same fatigue the forced two Sox errors early in the game (and Lugo to have four in the game), forced Beckett out after he loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning (see image). On the next pitch, Manny Delcarmen offered Frank Thomas a pinata and Thomas broke the game open, recording his 11th career grand slam.
JD Drew's 7th inning solo shot, his second of the series, was of little consolation at the time, but is hopefully a sign of good things to come as Drew tries to rebound from his first year in Boston.
Today's game brings the Sox's 15,840 mile road trip to an end and will start them on an "off day" that precedes TWENTY consecutive games starting Tuesday. Fortunately, 13 of them will be at home.
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