Rally caps Red Sox’ first half

Red Sox 8, Orioles 6

July 11, 2011|By Michael Vega, Globe Staff

Kevin Youkilis watches his two-run homer fly out in the second inning. (Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff )

When the Red Sox stumbled out of the box, losing their first six games and 10 of their first 12, manager Terry Francona said he never lost sight of the fact it was too early to write off his ball club.

After all, the clubhouse was teeming with way too much talent for the Sox not to climb out of their hole.

Still, there was no way Francona could have envisioned how far the Sox would come from their ignominious start.

There was no way he could have predicted the Sox would be 20 games above .500 (55-35), with a one-game lead over the Yankees in the American League East at the All-Star break. In addition, his club is leading the league in almost every major offensive category - batting average, runs, hits, total bases, doubles, RBIs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage. Also, six of his players are heading to the All-Star Game on the heels of six straight wins and 10 in their last 11 games.

“It was a very difficult start, there’s no getting around that,’’ Francona said after the Red Sox capped a four-game sweep of the Orioles with an 8-6 victory yesterday before a Fenway Park crowd of 37,688 on a resplendent afternoon.

“I think we needed to regroup and all the things we talked about, paying attention to detail, be patient enough to believe in ourselves, because it’s not easy,’’ Francona said. “We were taking some pretty good shots, and we probably deserved them. But there were some things that were being written or said that I don’t think I believed.

“I think we went out and proved that we can be a good team. We’re not done yet. Not even close. But we’re playing better baseball.’’

The finale lived up to the rest of this wild-and-woolly series, in which the Sox outhit (47-28) and outscored (32-13) the Birds by convincing margins. But it was more of a microcosm of the first half of this season in which the Sox were forced to overcome adversity and rally for a victory.

The team got huge contributions from reliever Alfredo Aceves (4-1), who picked up the win after rookie starter Kyle Weiland was ejected in the fifth inning, and solo homers by Marco Scutaro and Dustin Pedroia and a two-run shot by Kevin Youkilis in a four-run rally in the second that erased a 6-2 deficit.

There were eight ejections in the series, four in a bench-clearing brawl sparked by David Ortiz’s altercation with Kevin Gregg Friday night and four yesterday after plate umpire Marty Foster issued warnings to both clubs after Orioles reliever Jeremy Guthrie hit Youkilis in the fourth.

Weiland, 24, had his major league debut cut short when he and Francona were ejected in the fifth after Weiland’s changeup caught designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero on the right hand.