"Once again, we got beat today," Kevin Millar said, capturing it aptly enough. "They just kept hitting and hitting, and it was just one of those games where we couldn't get the runs across."
Even so, the Sox wound up going 16-14 in May, which hardly seemed possible when they opened the month with five straight losses, their worst May start in 28 years. They sealed their recovery by going 7-3 on the homestand.
"I do think we took advantage of a long homestand," manager Terry Francona said. "It's a great place for us to play and I thought we took advantage of it."
The Sox went from opening the month with a three-game edge over the Yankees in the American League East to sharing the lead with the Steinbrenner Nine after yesterday's loss. But they were playing without Nomar Garciaparra and Trot Nixon, coping with the failure of their original fifth starter, Byung Hyun Kim, and trying to make their way with Lowe searching desperately for the stuff that made him the majors' second-winningest pitcher (behind Toronto's Roy Halladay) over the previous two seasons.
"I'm at a loss for words," said Lowe, who ended a month of misery in which he went 1-4 with an 8.09 ERA, the worst among AL starters. He dropped to 4-5 overall with a 6.84 ERA, which is higher than the ERA Kim had (6.17) before he bolted home to South Korea.
"Derek just can't right the ship right now," Francona said. "Sure, it's troubling. If I had a better answer, I would certainly give it to you. I don't."
With the Sox trailing, 2-0, in the sixth inning and poised to chase Baltimore starter Rodrigo Lopez with a high pitch count, Lowe let the game get away. He failed to retire any of the five batters he faced in the inning, though he insisted his sudden futility had nothing to do with cutting his right thumb with his fingernail on a 3-and-2 curve he threw for ball four to Javy Lopez to open the inning.
"It wouldn't stop bleeding, but it was at the top of my thumb," Lowe said. "As far as the pitches go, I wish I could say it affected them more than it did."
