Couldn’t you just feel it? When Ortiz was thrown out on a close play at first, he was not happy. Clearly, he thought he beat it out. Would you want to pitch to him next at-bat? In the fifth, M’s starter Pineiro had to. After being kept off-balance all night, the Sox started treating his breaking balls like pinatas. Varitek flied out deep to left to open the inning. Then, for the second time this week, Millar hit a ball that looked like it should clear everything but ended up being a wall-scraper double. Can you feel it yet? Youkilis follows with a bullet down the left field line, scoring Millar. Reese struck out badly on a breaking ball, but we still love ‘ya Pokey. Damon walked, bring up Bellhorn, with Ortiz on deck. Now you’re feeling it, right? Bellhorn took a called strike, then walked on the next four pitches. The table was set. Ortiz sent the first pitch into the bullpen, just out of Icharo’s reach. His 100th career home-run and second career grand slam couldn’t have come at a better time.
Let’s talk Pedro. Looking at 4 ER’s and 8 hits, it looks like a shaky outing, and I guess it was. But, no walks and 9 strike-outs, maybe not so bad. The fact is, Pedro made a few mistakes and he paid for all of them. Two HR’s and a couple of key hits from Winn, all on hanging change-ups. When he came back out in the sixth after Ortiz gave him a lead, things didn’t look great. A Boone single followed by an Olerud single. Then he gets Aurilia swinging. Seattle send career lefty pinch-hitter Dave Hansen up, and quite honestly, I would have gone to Embree. Pedro got him, and got Winn to ground out to end the inning.
When Pedro came out in the seventh, I started having feverish flashbacks, but again I was wrong, as he set the side down in order. The Sox would add two more in the eighth and Foulke would finish things off. Pedro finally gets some run support and remains perfect against Seattle in his career.
