The stakes were already raised - Papelbon came in with men on first and second and one out - and three runs already in. He looked the part by mowing down Felix Pie on a 95-mile-per-hour fastball before Nick Markakis stepped to the plate. Markakis had been 0 for 7 with four strikeouts against the Sox closer.
But Markakis lashed a fastball on the outer part of the plate for a double to the left-center gap, scoring two runs, giving Baltimore an 11-10 lead and the Red Sox their most demoralizing loss of the season.
“Just a tough night all around for us, for the bullpen from top to bottom, dealing with the weather and dealing with trying to pick each other up,’’ Papelbon said. “Nobody came into an easy situation tonight. You’ve got to give that team over there credit, though. They put the pressure on our bullpen tonight.
“We pretty much imploded. I can’t think of any better word to use. It’s just what happened.’’
The Orioles batted around in the seventh and the eighth innings, scoring five runs in each frame as they took out their frustrations on the majors’ best bullpen. Though the Sox put two runners on in the ninth, they couldn’t finish it out as Jason Bay struck out swinging to end the threat. The last time the Sox had coughed up a nine-run lead and lost was June 4, 1989, when they blew a 10-0 lead against the Blue Jays.
“We went through a period where I think we gave up 13 hits in two innings,’’ manager Terry Francona said. “We just had no answer. We went through just about everybody. There were balls everywhere. The majority of the balls fell in front of the outfielders . . . When you give up 13 hits - that was as bad as we’ve seen.’’
Especially for a bullpen that came into the game with the best ERA in the majors. As Francona said, “Just nothing we did worked.’’
“These types of situations, what our bullpen went through tonight, won’t happen very often,’’ Papelbon said. “We tried to battle through it and everybody just - it wasn’t our night.’’
