May 5, 2011

All Night Long

A 2 1/2 hour rain delay and a 13 inning game caused Fenway Park to operate until 2:45 am EDT as the Angels beat the Red Sox 5-3. The delay stopped the pitching duel between Josh Beckett and Ervin Santana, but the Angels continued the no-hitter into the seventh. Boston almost won the game in the bottom of the ninth:

Boston, hitless for the first 6 1-3 innings, tied the score with two runs in the ninth inning and nearly won it in the 12th against Trevor Bell (1-0), but Marco Scutaro was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first on Kevin Youkilis‘ double high off the wall in left.

“I thought that was the ball game,” Bell said. “I started to walk off the field.”

Daniel Bard, who pitched the 11th and 12th for Boston, was ready to jump on it.

“When I saw the ball by Youkilis off the wall, I was on the top step ready to celebrate,” he said. “It took a perfect relay to get him. … They’re aggressive mistakes. I’d rather see that than the other way around.”

Daisuke Matsuzaka made the first relief appearance of his career. He loaded the bases for Bobby Abreu, who hit a single to break the tie and give the Angels their margin of victory. The game finished about two hours after Texas defeated Seattle 5-2 on the west coast, so the Angels got to scoreboard watch. The win keeps them tied with Texas for first place in the AL West.

1 thought on “All Night Long

  1. Casey Abell

    Right now Boston looks like the Perfectly Average Team. Their run diff after thirty games is +1. Not surprisingly they’re at 14-16, vitually breakeven. They’re 5-5 over their last ten games. They’re seventh in the league in OPS, ninth in ERA. Their team OPS is almost identical to their OPS allowed: .717 vs. .711. Both figures are right around the AL’s overall .711.

    The only place where they don’t look average: PAYROLL.

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