Unfinished business

Red Sox can't hold off rejuvenated Blue Jays after Beckett falters in the eighth

April 22, 2006|Chris Snow, Globe Staff

TORONTO -- For seven innings last night, Josh Beckett was calm, economical, and next to untouchable. He was well on his way to equaling Curt Schilling's impeccable 4-0 record and doing so in brilliant fashion. It must have felt like he was back in the National League, because he'd completed seven innings in a mere 78 pitches, the same number A.J. Burnett needed to navigate four innings before exiting with pain in his elbow. When the 25-year-old righthander walked out for the eighth, Terry Francona was thinking one thing: ''Complete game." And so, too, was Beckett, who held a 6-2 lead.

And yet, just before midnight last night, there was Beckett, lamenting a 7-6, 12-inning loss, pinned unjustly on Keith Foulke, who walked Troy Glaus with two outs in the 12th on a borderline full-count pitch, then yielded to Rudy Seanez, who threw only two pitches, the second of which Lyle Overbay obliterated, sending to the right-center-field gap, allowing Glaus to come all the way around to score.

''I definitely put the blame on me," Beckett said. ''I know I didn't end up with the 'L' beside my name but it's totally my fault. I'm quite embarrassed about it.

''The thing I'm most upset about is burning the damn bullpen. That's a game I've got to go out and finish and give the bullpen a day off. I don't know if I got too far ahead of myself or what."

What happened was the Sox, 10-0 this season when leading after seven innings before last night, unraveled, after steadily building a lead against Burnett. Burnett, who'd fanned Manny Ramírez swinging at 97-mile-per-hour heat in the second inning, looked just as good in the third, when he fanned Kevin Youkilis on a blistering fastball away.

But he slipped.

Mark Loretta stung a single to center, prolonging the inning for David Ortiz and Ramírez. Ortiz golfed the next pitch, a low 96-m.p.h. fastball that would have been Ball 1, out to right-center. That was homer No. 7 of the season, and RBIs Nos. 13 and 14. Ramírez, who had not gone more than 10 games to begin a season without a homer, came to bat homerless in 55 at-bats this season with just 14 hits, 13 of them singles.

But Burnett left a fastball up and over the outside of the plate, a place few hitters can reach with power but a place Ramírez can go with precision and authority, usually on demand. He hammered it approximately 398 feet to right-center for a 3-0 lead. His 436th career homer also represented his 200th in a Sox uniform, making him only the fourth player to hit 200 home runs for two teams, joining Jimmie Foxx, Mark McGwire, and Rafael Palmeiro. It also signified the ninth time Ortiz and Ramírez have gone back to back (once in 2003, six times in '04, and once in '05).