Joe Nathan, the best closer never to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, kept Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon in the bullpen by inducing Dustin Pedroia to pop out with two on and two outs to end the eighth, then whiffed Jason Varitek, who had homered in the eighth, and pinch hitter Kevin Youkilis with the bases loaded to end the game.
"As I've said before, he kind of flies under the radar as a closer, [but] he's pretty good," said Ron Gardenhire, who managed this one as if the Twins were the team with a division title at stake, summoning Nathan for a four-out save (No. 36) while general manager Terry Ryan, who earlier this month announced he was stepping down, watched approvingly from the press box.
"Personally, I wasn't able to get the job done, but we battled, against a very, very good bullpen," Varitek said. "First pitch was on the outside corner, then I chased one up, laid off the first slider, but couldn't stay off the next one."
That was just half the story. The Yankees did their part to keep Boston a dry town, too, as they beat the Devil Rays, 3-1, even without their two biggest stars. The Sox' lead in the AL East shrank to two games with three to play. Any combination of Sox wins and Yankee losses totaling two, and owner John W. Henry, who watched from his field box, will have a new tapestry, one undoubtedly better suited to hang on the Monster rather than at his new $16 million estate.
The Sox were more than happy to hang their hat on Beckett, the 20-game winner unbeaten in four previous September starts (2.25 ERA, 30 strikeouts in 28 innings) and looking to put the finishing touches on a Cy-caliber season.
But Beckett, who had given up three runs or fewer in eight of his previous nine starts, was hit hard early and often by the Twins, giving up five runs on 10 hits in six innings.
"I think Josh left some fastballs over the plate and kind of paid the price for it," manager Terry Francona said.
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