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June 26, 2007
BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer
SEATTLE – Far more times than not this season, Julian Tavarez has fulfilled the unstated responsibility of a fifth starter: give your team a chance to win.
Not, however, on Monday night.
Tavarez couldn’t get out of the fifth inning, surrendering six runs on six hits and suffering his first setback since May 1, a 9-4 pasting by the Seattle Mariners. The loss was the Sox’ sixth in a row at Safeco Field. The Mariners are 7-2 in their last nine games with Boston.
Three of the six runs charged to Tavarez were unearned, but they, too, were of his making. With the Sox leading 2-1 in the fifth, Tavarez fielded a bunt by Mariners shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt and fired it past first, enabling Betancourt to reach safely and Adrian Beltre to advance all the way to third.
Third baseman Mike Lowell, charging the bunt, attempted to call Tavarez off the play, but Tavarez was already committed to trying to get Betancourt at first. Manager Terry Francona said he thought the pitcher didn’t get a good grip before making the throw, though Tavarez himself disagreed.
A big inning for Seattle unraveled from there, with four of the next five hitters reaching.
''Everything went wrong for me,'' said Tavarez, who saw his record evened at 5-5. ''That’s how it goes. I didn’t get any breaks. I didn’t do anything different – I challenged the hitters, work quickly and tried to get ground balls. It was just a little of this, a little of that.''
''He was behind in the count a lot,'' explained Francona. ''His stuff was good. His fastball was explosive. But he left some pitches up and out of the zone and kind of misfired more than he needs to be successful.''
The outing was the pitcher’s shortest since his first outing of the season, April 7 in Texas. Tavarez came into last night with a 5-0, 3.07 record in his last seven starts. He hadn’t allowed a run over his previous 13 innings.
That streak ended in the second when Richie Sexson doubled and rode home on Ben Broussard’s single to right.
The Sox responded with two runs against Jeff Weaver in the top of next inning. With Coco Crisp (single) and Julio Lugo (error, fielder’s choice) on first and third, J.D. Drew drilled a single up the middle, just under the glove of second baseman Jose Lopez, scoring both runners and giving Boston a 2-1 lead.
A one-out single to right from David Ortiz advanced Drew to third, giving the Sox runners at the corners with one out. But the prospect of a big inning dimmed when Weaver fanned Manny Ramirez and, after walking Kevin Youkilis, got Lowell to pop to third, leaving the bases loaded.
The Sox wouldn’t score again until the ninth when Youkilis added a two-run double.
In between, the Mariners added on against Tavarez, Kyle Snyder and Mike Timlin.
Snyder, who inherited a bases-loaded, one-out jam from Tavarez, was uncharacteristically wild, walking two hitters in a row to force in two runs as the Mariners built their lead to 6-2.
Seattle broke the game open in the seventh against Mike Timlin. Timlin issued a leadoff walk to Sexson, then was struck in the glove hand by the top half of Ben Broussard’s sawed-off bat on a grounder to second.
''A little scary,'' said Timlin afterward. ''I’m glad I saw the bat, because I was watching the ball.''
Watching the ball then got tougher for Timlin. With Broussard on first with a fielder’s choice, Timlin gave up homers to Kenji Johkima and Beltre on consecutive two-seam fastballs that left up in the strike zone.
Youkilis’ two-run double came far too late to help, as Weaver won for just the second time this season. From the fourth through the eighth innings, the Sox mustered just two hits, while failing to take advantage of their few opportunities. They stranded two in the fourth, two in the sixth and the bases full in the eighth.
Posted by Sean McAdam 
at 2:31 AM | Permalink
