Pitching, defense falter in early going, contribute to team's first skid of '06

01:00 AM EDT on Friday, April 14, 2006

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- The game seemed well out of hand, thanks to several factors, not the least of which was a poor performance by Boston starter Matt Clement.

The Toronto Blue Jays had opened up a five-run lead in the second inning, with a debatable defensive decision by Gold Glove third baseman Mike Lowell playing a role. And by the sixth, with Red Sox nemesis Ted Lilly on the mound, Boston was trailing by seven runs, hardly giving the home fans many thoughts of optimism.

Once Lilly, who fanned 10 and allowed only a first-inning run, left after seven innings, the Red Sox came to life.

But with the right man up at the plate representing the tying run, Toronto's new closer, B.J. Ryan, retired the dangerous David Ortiz on a towering fly ball to right with at least three minutes' hang time for the game's final out as the Red Sox were forced to swallow an 8-6 loss and their first two-game losing streak of the season.

Ortiz, who had knocked in the run against Lilly, began the comeback with a two-run homer in the eighth, his third homer in as many nights. With two outs in the ninth, Kevin Youkilis drilled a two-run double off Jason Frasor and Mark Loretta greeted Ryan with an RBI single. But the rally fizzled.

"I didn't give us a chance to win," said Clement, who was raked for six runs in the second inning, the last four coming on a grand slam by Vernon Wells.

While Clement was the prime culprit in the Sox' loss, Lilly deserved credit for the Jays taking the rubber game of the series.

Simply put, Lilly owns the Sox. He pitched out trouble a few times early, emerging unscathed after Boston put runners at first and second with none out in each of the third and fourth innings, finding his strikeout pitches when he needed them.

Lilly was 3-0 with a 2.40 earned-run average against Boston last year, and he has gotten off on the right foot against the Sox in 2006.

"He's really confident when he pitches against them," said Toronto manager John Gibbons. "When he's on, he's awful tough."

"What he did tonight was he threw a real effective, slow breaking ball with a lot of depth to it, a real good spin rotation," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "But besides that, he ran his fastball, whether he is cutting it or just throwing it in on our right-handed hitters, up underneath their hands."

Youkilis was the only member of the starting lineup not to strike out against Lilly.

But the game got away from the Sox in the second, and one decision by Lowell wound up being the wrong one.

With score 1-1, the Jays had runners at first and third with none out. Aaron Hill hit a hard one-hopper to Lowell.

Gregg Zaun, running from third, broke for home. It was an easy double-play ball, especially with the skill in the Red Sox' infield these days. Lowell, though, threw to the plate, catching Zaun in a rundown and ultimately slapping the tag on him for the first out of the inning.

Had he gone to second to start the double play, the Jays would have been ahead, 2-1, with none on and two out. Instead it still was 1-1 with one out and runners at first and second. The Jays' Russ Adams then rolled an RBI single past Youkilis, who was forced to hold the runner at first, making it 2-1.

And after a walk, Wells crushed his grand slam, a missile that slammed into the back wall of the center-field bleachers, above the camera stand. Suddenly, it was 6-1, and the Red Sox never recovered.

Should Lowell have taken the two that early in the game, figuring the Sox' offense would score more than one run?

"Yeah, we talked about it afterward," Francona said. "Early in the game, if he had to do it over again, take the double play, give them the run, clean the bases and go from there."

What went on from there wasn't pretty, Clement admitted.

"They've got a good offense and they find a way to get one base and get the big hit,' Clement said. "I made a big mistake getting the ball up to Wells. I can't leave that pitch up there to him."

But he did. Wells made him pay, and the cost was a loss of the game and the series to the improved Blue Jays.

skrasner@projo.com / (401) 277-7340