With an 8-7 lead, Boston's closer can't close the door on Cleveland in the ninth, serving up a grand slam to slugger Travis Hafner.

10:08 AM EDT on Wednesday, June 29, 2005

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- Keith Foulke's job description is simple.

AP photo

Travis Hafner pumps his fist in delight after belting a grand slam in the top of the ninth inning last night off Red Sox closer Keith Foulke.

All he has to do, as Boston's closer, is to set down the opposition and preserve a Red Sox lead. Then it's handshakes and smiles all around, time to savor another save and a Boston win.

But this season, there haven't been very many smiles.

And in a season of disappointing performances for one of last year's World Series heroes, last night's meltdown plunged the Red Sox to a stunning 12-8 loss to the Cleveland Indians on a steamy, hazy night at Fenway Park.

Foulke's night went from bad to worse to worst, his personal disaster culminating in Travis Hafner's laser of a tie-breaking grand slam just over the low wall and just inside Pesky's Pole on an 0-and-2 pitch with two outs in the ninth inning.

Earlier, Foulke had permitted two inherited runners to score in the eighth, tacking those onto Mike Timlin's log as the Indians pulled to within one, at 8-7.

And in the ninth, a one-out double by Jody Gerut and Jhonny Peralta's two-out, 3-and-2 single to right that delivered pinch runner

Coco Crisp knotted the game at 8-8.

That run undid a spirited offensive attack that had taken struggling starter Wade Miller off the hook in a five-run sixth-inning outburst that produced an 8-5 advantage. By then, every member of the Sox had at least one hit, and seven different players had at least one RBI and/or a run scored.

There was more disaster in the ninth for Foulke, though, in the form of a pair of walks. Foulke just missed on several close pitches with two strikes on Casey Blake, at least in the opinion of plate umpire Larry Young, filling the bases for Hafner, who clubbed the 80-mile-an-hour pitch.

As the result of shaky relief, notably Foulke's dreadful performance, the Sox have lost two in a row on heels of stretches of seven straight wins and 12 in 13 gtames.

"We were one pitch from having the game be over," said manager Terry Francona softly. "(Foulke) was so close. He gave himself four opportunities (for the game-ending strikeout). He was just off the plate, just off the plate. Then Peralta gets a hit and with one swing Hafner changed the complexion of the game. All of a sudden we lose by four."

For Foulke, it was his third blown save of the year, the loss dropping his record to 5-4. His earned-run average, meanwhile, zoomed back up to an embarrassing 6.03. Hafner's homer was the eighth gopher ball he has surrendered in only 37 1/3 innings.

But to his credit, the often prickly Foulke was not hiding after last night's game-losing outing.

AP photo

Sox closer Keith Foulke takes a breather after giving up a grand slam to the Indians' Travis Hafner in the ninth inning last night.

"If you don't make the pitches in the right spots, you're going to get hit. It was just a bad day, man. If you throw it down the pipe you get hammered," said Foulke, a bit defiantly.

He refused to say he was squeezed by Young.

"I didn't pitch well. I don't talk about umpires. He does his job and I have to do mine. I ain't making excuses. It was just a bad day at work," he said.

Nor was he about to blame fatigue. He wound up throwing 47 pitches, a lot for a closer.

"I wasn't as fresh for my last pitch as I was for my first one, but that doesn't matter," he said. "I just needed to get it done, and I didn't."

The fact he hadn't gotten the job done was not lost on the fans, who showered Foulke with a loud chorus of boos after the homer and when the inning was done. Foulke heard the fans.

"I'm not going to invite them to my World Series celebration," said Foulke. "I've done a lot of good for the team. But they can boo. Let them boo. They have the right. They pay their money. They're fans. They pay me to do my job, and I didn't do it.

"But they can't make it any harder for me to look in the mirror," added Foulke. "I'm more embarrassed to walk into this locker room and face my teammates, knowing I let them down. That's way more important than Johnny from Burger King booing me. I just didn't do my job, man."