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Matsuzaka leaves game because of shoulder 'fatigue'; next start uncertain »
May 28, 2008
BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer
SEATTLE – It was night full of losses, beginning in mid-game and continuing right through to the bitter end in the bottom of the ninth.
First, the Red Sox lost Daisuke Matsuzaka to some sort of vague shoulder ailment. Then they lost Julio Lugo and Terry Francona, both to ejections by the same umpire, within minutes of one another.
Finally, they lost to the Seattle Mariners, something no other American League has been able to do since May 14. A two-out, run-scoring single in the bottom of the ninth by Jose Lopez off Mike Timlin snapped the Mariners’ seven-game losing streak and saddled the Sox with their fourth setback in five tries on the current road trip.
The Sox have lost eight of their last nine away from home.
With the game tied 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth, Wladimir Balentien reached on an infield single to the shortstop hole. A bunt moved him to second and a groundout to the right side pushed him to third.
The Red Sox elected to intentionally walk Ichiro Suzuki and face Lopez instead, but the Seattle second baseman foiled the strategy by slapping a single past third baseman Mike Lowell, scoring Balentien with the winning run.
"We were trying to make Lopez beat us," said Francona, "and he beat us. It was the right thing to do; it just didn’t work out."
"At the end, I threw a decent pitch and got beat," said a frustrated Timlin. "That’s all it is. (The pitch to Lopez was) on the inside part of the plate, we’re trying to beat him inside. He turned on it."
The loss dropped Timlin to 0-6 with a 10.29 ERA at Safeco Field.
"Yeah, my luck (stinks) right now," said Timlin, now 2-3 overall this year. "This park . . . it doesn’t matter. Right now, for me, it just (stinks); it’s frustrating. I’m throwing the ball well. I’m locating the ball well and I’m getting beat. And I don’t like it."
Limited to two hits through the first five innings by Seattle starter Miguel Batista, the Sox erased a 3-0 deficit with one mighty swing from Manny Ramirez.
An error by normally sure-handed shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt allowed Dustin Pedroia to reach and David Ortiz followed with a sharp single to right.
Ramirez then drilled the first pitch from Batista into the right-field seats for career homer No. 499, his first since May 12, dating back 45 at-bats.
"What a nice swing," marveled Francona. "We were pretty quiet until that point."
The Sox had another opportunity to overtake the Mariners in the eighth after Pedroia worked a leadoff walk off Batista and Ortiz singled off lefty reliever Ryan Rowland-Smith.
But Brandon Morrow overpowered Ramirez and Mike Lowell, striking them both out swinging, and retired J.D. Drew on a soft liner to right, stranding two baserunners.
Matsuzaka, who began the game 8-0, was nicked for two runs in the first inning. Ichiro started things with a double, took third on a sacrifice by Lopez and scored on a fielder’s choice. Raul Ibanez then doubled home Jose Vidro with the second run.
In the third, a single by Ichiro, a stolen base, an error by Sean Casey and another fielder’s choice produced the third Seattle run.
When Matsuzaka came out to begin his warmup throws in the bottom of the fifth, he made it through just two before what seemed like half the Red Sox dugout had assembled at the mound.
Following a brief consultation, Matsuzaka exited for what the Sox later cryptically labeled "shoulder fatigue."
David Aardsma, Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima combined to keep the Mariners within reach, allowing just two hits and two walks though four innings of relief, until the fateful ninth.
Posted by Sean McAdam 
at 2:18 AM | Permalink
