But it stung nonetheless after the Sox pen played a pivotal role for the second straight day in squandering a well-pitched game by their starter, this time Pedro Martinez.
"He pitched a great game and we came up short," said Alan Embree, who was charged with a blown save as two runs scored on Justin Morneau's sacrifice fly and Cabrera's error in a 4-3 loss before 38,751 at the Metrodome. "It [stinks] when that happens. It's two days in a row where you walk away going, `We should have [won].' "
Instead, the water treading continued as the Sox dropped to 41-41 since May Day while losing their eighth straight series on the road. The sad irony for Cabrera, who had a long flight to Tampa Bay with his new teammates to think about it, was that his gaffe spoiled an otherwise splendid debut. He became the eighth player in Sox history to homer in his first plate appearance with the team, cracking a solo shot off the league's hottest starter, Johan Santana.
"I was really excited," Cabrera said, "but I came here to win, so I was really disappointed when I made that error. Hopefully in the next couple of games we'll improve and start winning."
Thanks to Kevin Millar's sacrifice fly in the seventh, Martinez departed with a 3-2 lead after firing 101 pitches with a slightly aggravated right hip. But trouble developed quickly after Mike Timlin relieved to start the eighth.
"It wasn't an easy decision," Francona said of lifting Martinez. "But I was very comfortable the way we were handing it over. Timlin was going to face two [batters], Embree one, and then we'd hand it over to [Keith] Foulke. I thought we were in good shape."
Not quite. Timlin was unable to retire either batter as Cristian Guzman rifled a single up the middle and Lew Ford whistled a single off the glove of leaping third baseman Bill Mueller, sending Guzman to second.
"The pitch to Guzman was pretty good, but I missed a spot to Lew Ford," Timlin said. "I [stunk] today."
On came Embree, who the night before surrendered the decisive home run to Jacque Jones in the eighth inning of a 5-4 defeat. The coaching staff cautioned Embree to try to hold the runners close to prevent a double steal.
"We reminded him twice," Francona said. "I thought we did a good enough job, but we didn't."
