Jed Lowrie recorded all three outs in the top of the 11th and made sure the Toronto Blue Jays wouldn’t retire a batter in the bottom.
The Boston Red Sox first baseman was playing well out of position, but with the injuries suffered to a bounty of stars, he took over the role.
Mike Lowell needed a day off and Victor Martinez needed to catch because there other three backstops are on the disabled list.
Boston has been asking journeymen and callups to deliver all season long. Lowrie, who has hit extremely well since returning from Mono, was just the latest to deliver.
After being outscored 25-4 in the series’ first two games, the Red Sox got off to a terrific start. A two-run single by Martinez in the third gave them an early advantage.
Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched fairly well over the first five frames, but then, with Boston holding a four-run lead, he floundered, surrendering three runs in the sixth, with two coming on the 18th blast of the season by Lyle Overbay.
The score remained knotted at four, but Boston had plenty of chances to take the lead back.
Despite a patched-up lineup for a better part of the season, the team has managed to station themselves only behind the vaunted New York Yankees in runs scored in the league.
They put themselves in positions to add to their surprising total, yet Ricky Romero and the Jays seemingly unlimited supply of relievers held them at bay.
A two-on, one-out opportunity went by the wayside in the sixth, as did the same scenario in the eighth. So, to extras the two American League East teams went. And it looked as if the Jays would make the Red Sox pay with a tenth inning breakthrough.
Facing reliever Daniel Bard, who relieved Matsuzaka after eight innings, left fielder Travis Snider softly struck a 99-mph fastball in between first and second base. Second baseman Bill Hall charged the dribbler.
Snider sped down the line. He was nearing the bag, and Hall had yet to corral the grounder. But Hall tried to force it, gobbling it up and frantically firing to Lowrie at first.
Lowrie lunged for the errant throw, but couldn’t come up with such a ill-advised decision. Snider raced to second, and set up camp there, in scoring position, where a single could get the Jays closer to ensuring a series win.
Fred Lewis was next and had one job to do: move Snider to third. A gapper to score a run would be welcome for Toronto, but fundamentally, manager Cito Gaston expected him to just hit a well-placed grounder so Snider could scamper to third, where a sacrifice fly could plate a run.
Lewis connected with Bard’s first pitch. The ball bounded right to shortstop Marco Scutaro, whom the Blue Jays hoped would only go for the sure out at first.
But Scutaro had other ideas. Upon securing the grounder, he turned to third and threw to Adrian Beltre, who was not 15 feet away from a stuck Snider. He passed back to Scutaro and the out was made.
A runner was harmlessly at first now after Scutaro’s heads-up play. Then that half of the inning ended, with Yunel Escobar grounding into a double play on a blazing first pitch fastball out of Bard’s golden right arm.
Boston could do nothing in the bottom of the 10th, nor could Toronto muster anything positive in the 11th as Lowrie fielded two groundouts and caught Martinez’s throw after a strike-three splitter from Jonathan Papelbon evaded the catcher’s glove.
Lowrie ran into the dugout, and his attention turned to offense. He was due up first. Boston has a lot of composed, fiery, and mentally tough players, but none few are as serious-faced, business-like, and nonchalant as Lowrie, a former star at Stanford and a native of Salem, Ore.
He was a very heralded player coming up in Boston’s system, and flourished with the big club until a prolonged injury to his wrist (then, a case of mononucleosis) halted his growth.
He’s now back and healthy, and entered his at bat hitting .343 in the month and .305 on the year.
He only built upon those statistics, and further showed the Red Sox what he is capable of at full strength. He fought off every pitch under the sun, working a 2-2 count in seeing cutters, fastballs, sliders, and changeups, then came the final pitch in Casey Janssen’s repertoire.
Any pitch thrown can be risky, but especially curveballs, which have the tendency to hang from time to time. This one did so ever so slightly. Lowrie stayed back on it, and waited and waited for it to reach the hitting zone.
Once it did, he turned on the mistake, lifting it high into the Boston night, destined to land in the Red Sox bullpen. That’s what happened, as Jose Bautista raced back to the track and watched a 320-foot flyball turn into a game-winner.
With Fenway Park going berserk and the Red Sox rushing towards home-plate for a royal welcome, Lowrie ran around the bases with a expressionless look on his face.
That look that meant business turned joyful, as he leaped onto home-plate, into a mob of exuberance, before coming out smiling euphorically.
Darnell McDonald, a journeyman, and Hall, a former castoff, were the first to pat him on the back after surviving the momentary celebration around the plate.
That moment between McDonald, Hall, and Lowrie spoke volumes. The three shouldn’t have been in this position–playing important roles on a team that is usually jam-packed with stars.
But because of injuries they have been given a chance to be a part of a storied franchise, and all three have produced in the stead of the likes of Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, and Kevin Youkilis.
The latter, Lowrie, delivered tonight, and, continuing the season’s theme, the other two that have delivered in the past will undoubtedly do so in the future for the Red Sox, a team lacking most of their Opening Day starting lineup but not lacking fight.
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