TORONTO -- Before the third out could be recorded, Casey Fossum
was up in the bullpen. In the third inning, it was Sun Woo Kim's turn to
begin throwing. What looked like an absurd mismatch on paper -- arguably
the game's best pitcher, pitted against someone making his first major
league start -- had gone horribly wrong for the Red Sox.
But neither Pedro Martinez nor the rest of the Red Sox panicked.
Eventually, Martinez found his groove, and once their ace reached
equilibrium, the Sox began to take off.
After spotting the Toronto Blue Jays a 4-0 lead after two innings, the
Red Sox countered with six unanswered runs of their own, the final two
coming on bases-loaded walks in the ninth to crawl away with a 6-4 win
at SkyDome.
"We play until the end of the
game, until there are 27 outs," said Brian Daubach, "whether we're
winning or losing. We don't win easy, that's for sure."
"This," added Tim Wakefield, who provided two innings of invaluable
relief after Martinez's pitch count hit 113, "shows what we're capable
of, coming back from 4-0."
After tying the game in the seventh on RBI singles from Nomar
Garciaparra and Daubach, the Sox loaded the bases with no outs in the
ninth off Toronto closer Kelvim Escobar. Shea Hillenbrand chased a low
breaking ball out of the strike zone, but Escobar walked Jason Varitek
to force in Jose Offerman, and after a fielder's choice cut down
Garciaparra at the plate, Trot Nixon also drew a bases-loaded walk,
plating pinch-runner Bryant Nelson.
The win gave the Sox their 12th victory in 14 tries at SkyDome and 19
wins in their last 26 games here.
Martinez enjoyed a good bullpen session prior to the game, but couldn't
take the same stuff to the mound. His command was off from the beginning
as he walked the second batter he faced and hit the fourth. A
run-scoring single by Eric Hinske scored the first run and another
scored on a turf chopper to short.
It wasn't much better in the second when a leadoff walk to No. 8 hitter
Vernon Wells led to two more runs.
"Bad innings," said Martinez of the early going. "I wasn't responding
well and they took advantage. The first two innings, my arm didn't feel
all that well. It was just a bad start. They just went after me and got
a couple of runs."
That may have had something to do with the fact that Martinez was, for
the first time this season, making two starts in a row on four days'
rest.
"That should show the world why we're being as careful with him as we
are," said manager Grady Little. "(The four days' rest) could have
something to do with it. Until he's all the way back, he's going to have
spells like this. It's all part of the healing process. It took him a
lot of pitches to get through the first few innings, but his stuff got
progressively better."
By the third, Martinez began to settle down. He allowed back-to-back
singles to Hinske and Darren Fletcher, but stranded those runners when
he retired the lower third of the Toronto lineup in order.
From the fourth through the sixth, his final three innings, he allowed
just one base hit. He retired the last nine hitters he faced.
In the meantime, the Red Sox bats were getting untracked. They couldn't
manage much against Pete Walker until Jose Offerman's two-run homer to
right cut into the Toronto lead by half.
But Walker's pitch count reached 66, and the Blue Jays were forced to go
to their bullpen. In the seventh, after Brandon Lyon yielded singles to
Johnny Damon and Garciaparra, Buck Martinez played the percentages and
called on lefty Scott Eyre to face Daubach.
The move backfired when Daubach lined a single to right, and Hillenbrand
followed with a run-scoring double. With the bases loaded and the chance
to break the game open, Carlos Baerga grounded into an inning-ending
double play.
But the Sox had one more rally left in them, and despite allowing two
baserunners in the bottom of the ninth, Ugueth Urbina nailed down his
17th save.
"We kept battling," said Little. "We believe that even when we get
behind early, we can still win."
