Jays take advantage of a few gifts

08:40 AM EDT on Friday, May 14, 2004

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

AP photo Talking strategy on the mound are Boston's Jason Varitek and Curt Schilling in the second inning. Schilling retired the side in order.

TORONTO -- Their last road trip was marked by spotty starting pitching and the inability to collect the big hit when it was needed most, leading directly to a disappointing five-game losing streak.

Ominously for the Red Sox, their latest road swing began and was earmarked with entirely different shortcomings. Committing two errors -- with at least one other costly misplay that wasn't scored as such -- and displaying a faulty bullpen, the Sox banged out 13 hits, but still fell six runs short in a sloppy 12-6 setback to the Toronto Blue Jays in the opener of a seven-game road sojourn.

The Jays took full advantage of two errors in the sixth to score five

runs, prying what had been a one-run game wide open. An inning later, it was more of the same as Toronto tacked on two more runs -- gift-wrapped by the Boston defense -- as the Sox lost for the fourth time in their last five tries.

"We're tired," confessed Johnny Damon, one of the main culprits on defense. "and when you're tired, you start making mental mistakes and your defense isn't as crisp."

Lenny Dinardo, in relief of Curt Schilling, threw wildly past first on a soft grounder back to the mound by catcher Kevin Cash, enabling Cash to reach second and Reed Johnson to go to third.

Run-scoring singles off Alan Embree by Orlando Hudson (four hits, five runs scored) and Sox nemesis Frank Catalanotto (four hits, including three doubles) made the error especially costly. After a walk to Vernon Wells which loaded the bases and a strikeout of Carlos Delgado, Embree gave way to Mike Timlin, who seemed on the verge of getting out of the inning when he got Josh Phelps to line directly to Johnny Damon in center.

But the sinking liner ticked off Damon's glove for an error as two more runs came in.

"I had a bead on it," recounted Damon of the fateful liner, "but at the last second, it started to knuckle on me. I thought maybe I took my eye off it, but I watched the replay and I did see the ball take a left turn and down. Instead of coming off the field with a 6-2 deficit, it was 8-2. Who knows what would have happened."

"We gave them a lot of extra opportunities," bemoaned Terry Francona. "It's not a lack of effort or concentration. We just didn't execute enough plays to help us win."

The Sox have made five errors in the last two games and have made 33 in 35 games.

"When you're playing teams good as the ones we're playing," said Schilling, 4-3, "if you don't play well fundamentally, you're not going to win games."

The Sox stirred in the seventh as six straight hitters reached -- five hits and a walk -- chasing starter Miguel Batista and pounding two Toronto relievers to creep to within two.

But just as quickly, the Jays answered with two more runs in the seventh to pull away. Fill-in third baseman Mark Bellhorn overran a catchable ball by Catalanotto in foul ground, only to see the outfielder, given another chance, deliver his third double of the night, scoring two more runs.

Limited to just two hits over the first four innings, the Sox finally got on board in the fifth, using a one-out single from Cesar Crespo, a stolen base and a single to center from Damon.

A mammoth drive by David Ortiz into the second level of the right-field seats in the sixth closed the Sox to within a run at 3-2, but that was before things fell apart completely in the home half of the inning.

Things came unhinged in the fifth for Schilling. Cash and Orlando Hudson gave the Jays two runners on and no out.

Schilling used his bare hand to stop a comebacker from Catalanotto, recovering in time to force Cash at third. But he wasn't as successful on a ball hit by Wells, which caught Schilling's glove and rolled away, loading the bases.

A sacrifice fly from Carlos Delgado delivered the third Toronto run before Schilling fanned Josh Phelps to strand two.

Schilling was unpredictable from one inning to the next. He gave up two hits and two walks for a run in the first, retired the side in order in the second, then gave up a run on three hits in the third before again retiring the side in the fourth.

Consecutive doubles by Hudson and Catalanotto accounted for the first run, and after two walks -- a rare lapse of control for Schilling -- the Jays had another run cut down at the plate in the first when Schilling himself started a nifty double play on a comebacker from Phelps.

The Sox nabbed another Blue Jays baserunner at the plate in the third as Brian Daubach stepped on first to retire Delgado on a grounder before firing home to nail Catalanotto as Jason Varitek expertly blocked the plate. But the Jays had already tacked on another run thanks to Hudson's leadoff single and Catalanotto's second double in as many plate appearances.