Sox' late surge ends with winning run on second base

08:16 AM EDT on Thursday, June 17, 2004

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

AP photo Trot Nixon ducks out of the way of an inside pitch from Rockies starter Jason Jennings in the second inning last night. Later, Nixon got to Jennings for a solo homer.

DENVER -- The balky right ankle, Curt Schilling insisted, wasn't the problem. Last night, poor command and poor excecution were to blame.

Schilling was hit hard for nine hits and seven runs --five of which were earned -- in six innings last night as the Red Sox dropped their second straight game to the lowly Colorado Rockies, 7-6.

"I felt great, felt strong," insisted Schilling, who lost for the first time since May 13. 'I just didn't pitch well. I didn't make good pitches when I needed to. I beat us tonight."

Displaying atypically poor command -- four walks and a hit-batsman -- and wasn't helped by two errors behind him.

"We gave 'em a couple extra outs," said Terry Francona. "You can't do that in a ballpark like this."

Even with their mistakes and Schilling's off-night, the Sox staged a rally in the ninth that fell just short. Four base hits in the span of five at-bats produced two runs and put the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second.

But shaky Rockies closer Shawn Chacon got pinch-hitter David McCarty to fly to right, stranding two more baserunners and giving the Sox 12 stranded for the night and 23 for the series to date.

The consecutive losses came at the hands of the Rockies who had lost eight straight and 20 of their last 24 before the Sox hit town.

"We're not playing well," Schilling said. "We're a much better team than this. We've got to batten down and do what we do best -- get good starting pitching and bang the baseball."

Twice -- in the second and again in the fourth -- Schilling gave up multiple runs to the Rockies after his teammates had managed to score for him in the top half of the inning.

"To give it back the way I gave it back really hurts," Schilling said.

Schilling, who took his customary two shots of Marcaine numbing agent for the ankle -- one before the start and another in the fifth -- returned home to Boston late last night and will undergo an MRI tomorrow morning.

The final unraveling came in the sixth. Trailing 4-3, Schilling was hit hard, surrendering a run-scoring double to Todd Helton and an RBI-single to Jermoy Burnitz, sandwiched around an error by Nomar Garciaparra and a run-producing groundout to third by Vinny Castilla.

Early in the game, the Red Sox offense was produced by homers -- one each from Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek and Trot Nixon. The latter came in Nixon's return to action after sitting out the first 63 games with injuries on just his second at-bat.

Unfortunately for the Red Sox, the bases were empty each time. Over the last eight games, the Sox have scored more than four runs just three times.

After failing to take advantage of scoring opportunities in the series opener Tuesday night, the Sox fell back into the same bad habit last night.

In the fifth, for the second time in as many innings, the Sox left the bases loaded.

Colorado starter Jason Jennings hit Manny Ramirez to start, issued a walk to Nixon one out later and a second walk with two outs to Youkilis. But that brought Schilling to the plate and he managed only a weak tapper back to the mound as Ramirez was cut down for the final out.

Nixon, who had taken Jennings to the deepest part of the ballpark in the second for a 405-foot flyout, didn't miss a second time, drilling a hanging changeup over the right-field scoreboard for his first homer since last fall.

One out later, the Sox had the makings of a big inning with three consecutive singles from Youkilis, Schilling and Damon produced a run and a walk to Mark Bellhorn loaded the bases.

But David Ortiz popped out to first for the final out, marking the third time in the series the Sox had left the bases full.

In the home half of the second, Charles Johnson singled to center with one out and when Damon flubbed the ball for a moment, even the slow-footed Johnson took advantage by moving to second.

Kit Pellow walked, and Jennings helped himself with a single to right, scoring Johnson from second and moving Pellow to second.

A single to left from rookie Aaron Miles moved both baserunner up 90 feet.

Royce Clayton then hit what looked to be a double-play ball to short, but when Garciaparra took an extra instant to get the ball out of his glove and feed Bellhorn at second, Clayton beat the relay to first and Pellow crossed the plate with the second run of the inning.

After going without a homer for the previous two games, Youkilis brought the drought to an end in the bottom of the second when he drove a pitch from Jennings deep into the left field seats.

It was Youkilis' first homer since June 5 and snapped a stretch that had seen him go just 4-for-25 over his previous six games after hitting .300 (18-for-60) in his first 18 games.