01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, May 30, 2006

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

TORONTO -- The Boston Red Sox' comeback was spirited, against long odds on a couple of fronts.

But despite somewhat unexpected air-tight relief contributions from youngsters Jermaine Van Buren and Manny Delcarmen (combined 3 2/3 scoreless innings) and Jason Varitek's dramatic game-tying three-run homer in the eighth, the Red Sox still fell to the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-6, last night at the Rogers Centre.

The night's problems began with starter Matt Clement, who didn't get the official loss but admitted he deserved it after another dreadful, abbreviated outing, this one a mere 3 1/3 innings, during which he was charged with six runs.

And the game turned against the Sox for good when David Riske, auditioning for the role vacated by injured Mike Timlin, served up a tie-breaking 0-and-2 single to pinch-hitter Shea Hillenbrand in the eighth.

It was not the way the Red Sox wanted to begin this 10-game journey. The ending negated a comeback from a 6-0 fourth-inning deficit to rested Blue Jays ace right-hander Roy Halladay, who served up a solo homer to Coco Crisp in the fifth and a two-run shot to Manny Ramirez in the sixth in his seven-inning stint.

"That's not how you wanted to play this game," said Sox manager Terry Francona.

Not with a bullpen suddenly thin of consistently dependable arms. Not against Halladay, a former Cy Young winner.

"We did a good job to get the game tied," said Francona. "It was a hard game to play. When you get to your bullpen that early, down by that many, if you give up a run out of the bullpen you're in bad shape. (For) Riske, it was not a bad outing. He gave up a run, but at that point in the game, it's too much." Point the finger for this loss at Clement. So said Clement.

"That was very embarrassing," said Clement, a stand-up guy after his personal disaster.

"It was a pitiful outing. There's no excuse for that. You can't put the team in bad situations like that. I feel like I let the team down. That 'L' should be next to my name, not anybody else's."

Unfortunately, this poor outing can't just be cast aside as "one of those nights." For Clement, there have been too many of them this season. Last night constituted his second straight pounding. He was strafed by the New York Yankees for eight runs on nine hits in only 4 1/3 innings in his last start.

Clement was struck on the right ankle by a line drive scalded by Bernie Williams early in that outing, but he refused to use that as an excuse for his ghastly 16.45 earned-run over his last two starts. Even when Francona, interim pitching coach Al Nipper and training coordinator Jim Rowe went out to check him in the fourth he assured them the ankle was fine.

"I've never been a guy to blame something physical," said Clement.

Indeed, his troubles run deeper -- season-long, in fact. Clement has thrown as many as seven innings in only two of his 10 starts. In five of them, he has failed to go six innings. And while he pitched an outstanding game in Philadelphia on May 19, there have been more clunkers than encouraging efforts.

Last night was a continuation of his control woes. He went to three balls on 8 of the 19 batters he faced, leading to a high pitch count too early in the game. Through three innings he had thrown 58 pitches. He threw 28 more and got only one out in the fourth before being lifted.

"There were too many hitters' counts when they've got good hitters, like they have over there," said Francona. "They start looking for a pitch and extending their arms."

Vernon Wells (two-run homer in the third) and Lyle Overbay (leadoff homer that sparked a four-run fourth) did just that. So Clement has to go back to the drawing board, he said.

"Life is full of challenges," said Clement. "Unfortunately, when things don't go your way they go that way in bunches. It has been a bad week. But at least I don't have to go too far back (to see a good outing), just to the Philadelphia game. But two bad starts in a row at this time is something we didn't need as a pitching staff."

The injury to Timlin and the heavy workload recently for Rudy Seanez and Julian Tavarez gave others a chance last night. Van Buren and Delcarmen were up to the challenge. Riske, who came off the disabled list on May 22 and battled the flu a few days late last week, wasn't so fortunate.

He was tagged for a leadoff double to right-center by Bengie Molina. Aaron Hill sacrificed pinch runner Eric Hinske to third.

Riske got ahead of Hillenbrand at 0 and 2, but with the infield in, Hillenbrand was able to drill the next pitch past shortstop Alex Gonzalez, who made a dive to his right for the ball.

"I threw too many pitches down the middle," said Riske. "When I get a guy 0 and 2, what I want to do is throw a pitch way out of the zone. But it ended up getting a lot of the plate. Everybody in this league can hit a fastball down the middle. I felt good, but it's all about locating your pitches."

That's what flame-throwing Jays closer B.J. Ryan proved in the ninth, blowing away Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis for strikeouts and retiring the red-hot Mark Loretta on a routine fly ball to right, ending the game that started so badly for Sox.

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