"It would be hard to script it any better," Van Every said after powering the Sox to a 6-5 win last night.
"He was smiling ear to ear," manager Terry Francona said. "That was a good win. I think that's probably understating it a little bit."
Van Every had singled in the first run of the eighth, touching off the rally that brought the teams to extra innings. He also had broken up a double play and made a diving catch in foul territory in the bottom of the eighth. It seemed more than enough for a day of work.
Before a crowd of just 19,137, the Sox had trailed, 5-0, entering the sixth - and outscored the Indians, 6-0, the rest of the way.
"I hit it good," said Van Every in his Brandon, Miss., drawl. "Whether it did or not [carry], that's all I got. All I could do was put a good swing on it and let the ball go. It found a way to get out.
"I knew I had caught it good. I was just hoping, 'Please go out, please go out. Please don't let Grady [Sizemore] get to that thing.' "
But to even get to that point took some work - work done by the bottom of the order.
There were two strikes on Jacoby Ellsbury as he stood at the plate in the eighth inning. Jeff Bailey was at third, pinch runner Julio Lugo at first, and the Sox were down, 5-4. Ellsbury hit the next pitch past second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera. Bailey crossed the plate, the score unexpectedly tied after the Sox had been stymied by Fausto Carmona.
The Sox scored three times in the eighth. Despite a weakened bottom of the order with the absences of Drew and Kevin Youkilis, the Sox staged a rally. Mike Lowell singled, followed by another single by Jason Varitek, and an error by Indians third baseman Mark DeRosa on a grounder by Bailey. The bases were loaded for the lefthanded-hitting Van Every.
