Projo Sox Blog

By KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON - It took a light-hitting, backup catcher to ruin Jonathan Papelbon's perfect season and one of Josh Beckett's best efforts of the year Saturday night at Fenway Park.

With Papelbon one out away from converting his 12th consecutive save of the year, Omir Santos drove a 97-an hour fastball towards the Monster Seats in left. The ball hit the top of the wall, clearly over the home run line, but the umpires needed instant replay to award Santos a two-run home run that gave the Mets a 3-2 lead.
J.J. Putz came on in the bottom of the ninth and retired the Sox to earn his second save of the season and give the Mets a second straight win over Boston.
Beckett did everything he could to lead the Red Sox to a win. He shut the Mets down for eight strong innings as he allowed one unearned run and handed Papelbon a 2-1 lead. But this time the closer did not get the job done.
New York starter Mike Pelfrey pitched very well also. He allowed a two-run single by Kevin Youkilis in the first inning and then shut out the Red Sox over the next six innings.
Santos, who came up from the minors last month, came into the game with one career home run.

 Tags  Jonathan Papelbon Josh Beckett Red Sox

---