Drive by Ortiz in 9th fails to pull out a win

08:59 AM EDT on Friday, September 24, 2004

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach David Ortiz wears a look of resignation after his drive to right field with two outs and two runners on base in the bottom of the ninth inning was caught just short of the warning track, ending last night's game against the Orioles.

Slideshow

View a slideshow of photos from yesterday's Red Sox game.

BOSTON -- This time, there was no game-winning magic, no rabbit the Boston Red Sox were able to pull out of the hat. But they came close.

After beating Baltimore in their final at-bat in each of the last two nights, Boston fell about 15 feet short of doing it again last night, losing to the Orioles, 9-7, at Fenway Park.

Jose Leon's two-out, two-run, pinch-hit single off Mike Myers snapped a 5-5 tie in the eighth, and Baltimore's relief corps, given breathing-room runs that proved necessary on RBI singles by Larry Bigbie and Geronimo Gil off Byung-Hyun Kim in the ninth, was able to protect a late lead this time. Barely.

The Sox made some noise in the ninth against B.J. Ryan, getting Manny Ramirez to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. Ramirez promptly bashed a single through the left side, cutting Boston's deficit from 9-5 to 9-7 and bringing David Ortiz to the plate with runners at first and second.

But Ortiz came up short, his fly ball landing just shy of the warning track in right, where it was corraled by

David Newhan, ending the game.

"I forgot my protein bar," joked Ortiz. "That ball I hit, no doubt it's going out in Yankee Stadium. We'd be celebrating. But Fenway's not going to give you a cheap one. You either hit it or you go back home. I didn't hit it the way I can. It got in on me a little bit."

The victory gave the Orioles a split of the four-game series, continuing their season-long tormenting of the Red Sox. Baltimore, which is only 71-80 for the season, improved to 9-6 against Boston, with a season-ending four-game series on the schedule for next weekend in Camden Yards.

The setback, meanwhile, dropped Boston 4 1/2 games (four in the loss column) behind New York in the American League East, meaning even a Red Sox sweep of the three-game series against the Yankees, which begins tonight at Fenway, won't be enough to boost them into first.

The Sox, though, didn't seem all that broken up about their standing in the A.L. East, likely because they are a virtual shoo-in to claim the wild-card playoff berth, muting to some degree any sense of urgency at this point of the year.

"In the big picture, getting into the playoffs is the number-one goal," said Dave Roberts. "Of course you set your sights on winning the division, but you have to find a way to get into the playoffs."

Not that the Sox are giving up hope that they can catch the Yanks even though they have only 11 games left. And that counts the three head-to-head matchups beginning tonight.

"The easy way would be to say the A.L. East is over with, but this team doesn't do anything the easy way," said Kevin Millar, whose two-run double pulled Boston even at 5-5 in the fifth.

"There will be talk that we're out of it, but if we sweep them they'll be back on the bandwagon again and we'll need some help from some other teams. But we have to play well," added Millar.

That includes getting better starting pitching. Over the last seven games, outside of Curt Schilling's eight-inning masterpiece on Tuesday, the Sox' starters have gone as many as six innings only once.

Last night, it was Derek Lowe's turn, and he lasted only five innings.

The right-hander, who was knocked out two batters into the second inning in New York in his last start because of ineffectiveness and a liner off his leg, was nicked early by a few bleeders, bloops and seeing-eye hits.

But Miguel Tejada's three-run moon shot of a homer well over the Green Monster in the fifth that provided the Orioles with a 5-2 lead was no cheapie. Lowe's abbreviated outing put further strain on the bullpen, which had been worked hard the previous night in a 12-inning win.

Manager Terry Francona stayed away from stalwarts Alan Embree, Mike Timlin and Keith Foulke, instead calling on seldom-used Terry Adams. Adams worked two spotless innings and was followed by Ramiro Mendoza, Myers and, for the first time since May 10, Byung-Hyun Kim, who only recently was placed on the active roster.

The result wasn't pretty. With the score 5-5 in the eighth, Mendoza gave up a pair of hits with one out and Myers wasn't able to wriggle out of trouble. A wild pitch didn't help, but Myers was one pitch away from getting out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam when Leon, batting a mere .186, laced his tie-breaking hit to right.

That put the Birds on top, 7-5. And maybe it wasn't a surprise Leon, a right-handed hitter, came through. Right-handers were batting .316 against Myers.

Francona elected to call on Kim for the ninth, even though the game was by no means out of reach at 7-5, especially given the Sox' game-winning rallies in 3-2 and 7-6 victories the previous two nights.

Kim got the first two batters in the ninth, but a single by B.J. Surhoff, a walk, and singles by Bigbie and Gil bloated the Orioles' advantage to 9-5. Obviously, those turned out to be key runs against the Sox, who at this stage can't afford to let games slip away.

"We thought that was a good position for him (to pitch in)," said Francona of Kim, who was booed loudly after the final out in the top of the ninth.

"We tried to make some things reach tonight that didn't quite reach. I was trying to protect some people tonight. If there is blame, I will take it because it didn't work," said Francona.

It almost didn't matter. Despite facing Ryan, an imposing left-hander, the Red Sox rallied in the ninth. But they fell short, and now are seemingly on the short end of the A.L. East championship stick with the Yankees in town.