It's all coming back to red-hot Red Sox

April 21, 2008|Gordon Edes, Globe Staff

This is what happens when Manny Ramírez is ejected: Career minor leaguer Joe Thurston makes three plate appearances, Dustin Pedroia's day off is interrupted by a summons to pinch hit in the cleanup spot, and Julio Lugo, who began the game at shortstop, winds up playing in front of the Monster for the first time in his career.

Oh, and the Red Sox come from five runs down to beat the Texas Rangers, 6-5, before a gleeful crowd of 37,480 that witnessed the Sox score four times after there were two outs and nobody on in the eighth. Not quite in the class of last season's Mother's Day Miracle - Seder Surprise? The Pre-Marathon Sprint? - but an immensely satisfying win for a team that now has won four straight and eight of nine and is undefeated (5-0) in games decided in the last at-bat.

"It's just how we drew it up," said manager Terry Francona, whose afternoon looked spoiled when Milton Bradley took Tim Wakefield deep for a three-run home run that gave the Rangers a 5-0 lead in the sixth, but ended with Pedroia delivering a game-tying, pinch-hit double and Sean Ca sey drawing a bases-loaded walk to go ahead, seven straight Sox hitters reaching safely in the eighth. "There's something to be said for plugging away."

All of this happened after Ramírez, arguably baseball's hottest hitter, was bounced by plate umpire Paul Emmel for suggesting in language deemed objectionable that Emmel had wronged him by calling him out on strikes in the second inning. Ramírez, who leads the majors with 20 RBIs and had hit four home runs in the last seven days, recently has been more contentious about ball-strike calls (this one was borderline).

"Usually when Manny argues, he has an issue," Pedroia said. "I haven't looked at the pitches, but Manny's more a 'tip your hat' kind of guy. When he says something, there's usually a problem."

Ramírez, who was replaced in left field by Thurston and was out the clubhouse door shortly after Jonathan Papelbon retired former Sox prospect David Murphy on a pop fly to end it, expressed his gratitude wordlessly after Pedroia shot a double into the right-center field gap off Rangers lefthander C.J. Wilson to score David Ortiz from first to tie the score.

"He gave me a big hug when I came in," Pedroia said with a smile. "But he gives me a big hug every day, so I don't know what that was."