Projo Sox Blog

BY CAROLYN THORNTON
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- Jonathan Papelbon acknowledged that he was very "frustrated" following his outing in Sunday's first game. With the rain starting to fall again just as he took the mound in the ninth, the right-hander gave up four hits and three earned runs and also walking a batter, allowing New York to take a 6-2 lead right after the Sox had rallied to within one in the eighth.

"I'm happy to be out of that without an injury," Papelbon said. "(The rain) affects your routine. Everything's soaking wet, so obviously you've got to do what you can. But it's still no excuse for me not to be able to go out there and get outs."

Sox manager Terry Francona called it "just one of those innings."

"It looked like his spikes were muddy," he said. "He was trying to get through the inning. We were trying not to get (Chris Smith) in the game. It was one of those innings when you bring the closer in and all of the circumstances start going the other way. There's a hit, a walk, ball hit to (Jed) Lowrie, can't field the ball with his bare hand, extends the inning. It was just one of those innings. By the end, he didn't know how many outs there were and I'm sure he was frustrated."

 Tags  Jonathan Papelbon

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