Caption: Tonight’s hero, CF Darnell McDonald, drove in the last three Red Sox runs—with a two-run home run in the eighth inning and a wall-ball scraper in the ninth—in the Red Sox' 7-6 win. Here, he is mobbed by Jonathan Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia, and the rest of his Red Sox teammates.
Tonight’s contest between the Red Sox and Texas Rangers was one for the books on so many levels that it may be difficult to do the game justice.
First and foremost, the afternoon started with Mike Cameron and Jacoby Ellsbury being placed on the disabled list. Darnell McDonald and Josh Reddick were recalled from Pawtucket to take their places on the roster.
Secondly, the pitching staff issued nine walks, and the battery allowed the Rangers to steal a team-record nine bases in the ballgame.
Third, DH David Ortiz was pulled for a pinch hitter (Mike Lowell) in the seventh inning.
Fourth, 3B Adrian Beltre showed an appalling lack of plate discipline with runners in scoring position in both the seventh and ninth innings. His performance in those at-bats would have been substandard even by Double-A standards.
Fifth, and finally, the ball club was led by the youngsters. As expected, Jeremy Hermida started in left field once again in place of Ellsbury, and Reddick started in center field for Cameron.
Reddick went 1-for-3, with his hit being a misplayed fly ball down the left field line that fell in for a two-run double (in actuality, it was a ground-rule double that should have driven in only one run, but the umpires missed the carom into the stands).
McDonald then pinch-hit for Reddick in the eighth inning...he hit a game-tying, two-run home run off southpaw Darren Oliver that sent Fenway Park into a frenzy.
An inning later, he hit the game-winning single with two outs—a wall-scraper with the bases loaded that brought Kevin Youkilis across home plate. Red Sox Nation went delirious. Jonathan Papelbon, who got the win after pitching a scoreless ninth inning, led the charge from the dugout that sent McDonald ducking for cover.
McDonald spent the day waiting at a hotel in Boston—just in case he was needed. A few hours later, he was the savior who rescued the Red Sox from another embarrassing loss.
After the game, Red Sox manager Terry Francona said, “(At this point) I don’t care how we did it. We desperately needed to win a game. We hung in there and won a game that we definitely needed to win.”
The win snapped the Red Sox' five-game losing streak despite all of the walks and stolen bases. Texas has now dropped five straight.
McDonald, 31, was signed by the Red Sox as a minor league free agent in November after finishing last season with the Cincinnati Reds. Of his performance, he said, “I couldn’t write a script any better than this. A lot happened. It was a dream come true. That’s why I signed (with the Red Sox), to be able to play in this type of atmosphere.”
Youkilis opened the ninth inning with an infield hit, advanced on a passed ball, and was sacrificed to third base by Billy Hall. After Lowell was intentionally walked and Beltre popped to first, Jason Varitek walked on four pitches to bring McDonald to the plate. He then lofted a fly ball towards the Green Monster that scraped the wall just above the leap of LF Josh Hamilton.
He was mobbed in the infield. “They got me pretty good out there,” he said, still beaming.
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OF Nelson Cruz and SS Elvis Andrus each had three of the Rangers’ nine stolen bases, all of which were swiped off knuckleballer Tim Wakefield and C Victor Martinez. The club broke the old mark of eight steals—set last Aug. 15 against the Red Sox.
Wakefield: “I was just concentrating on throwing strikes and wasn’t keeping an eye on the running game, which showed. They stole nine bases off me. I know it’ll get better.”
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Red Sox catchers have thrown out just one of 31 base stealers this season. The nine steals allowed this evening matched the most allowed by the club since Oct. 3, 1913.
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Wakefield has surpassed Cy Young to move into second place on the Red Sox' all-time list with more than 2,729 innings pitched.
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McDonald is the first player to homer in his initial plate appearance in a Red Sox uniform since Orlando Cabrera did it on Aug. 1, 2004, in Minnesota.
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