Beckett gives bullpen relief

Terry Francona and his coaching staff sat down after Sunday's 13-inning win and spent a long time talking about the bullpen. Seven relievers had thrown 13 2/3 innings in the last two games, wearing the Red Sox bullpen thin in the process. The Sox could have made a roster move, or maybe have a starting pitcher throw some relief innings.

Several possibilities were discussed, but ultimately it came down to Josh Beckett.

"If Beckett throws like he should, we'll be fine," Francona said before last night's game. "If something crazy happens, we'll figure it out."

The Red Sox were defeated, 2-1, by the Arizona Diamondbacks, but Beckett certainly threw like he should, with eight strong innings, giving the bullpen some rest.

Fortunately for Francona, nothing crazy happened, except for the freak play before the fifth inning when a warmup throw from Mike Lowell to Kevin Youkilis took an odd bounce and hit the first baseman just below the eye, causing a contusion that would force him to leave the game.

No, nothing crazy other than that. In fact, after the bullpen had put in overtime the last two games, Beckett's fine outing left only one reliever to see time: David Aardsma, who pitched the final inning, walking two and striking out two. Aardsma had pitched one inning in Saturday's 9-3 loss to St. Louis.

"I thought what we asked of Aardsma tonight was pushing it a little bit but he obviously wasn't backing off on his velocity," Francona said. "But we didn't go to anybody else. We got [Chris Smith] up in the ninth but that was it, so that was good."

Smith threw four innings in that 9-3 loss.

Beckett (7-5) was locked in a pitchers' duel with Dan Haren (8-4), who gave up two hits in seven innings while striking out five.

"You knew going in that runs would probably be at a premium with those two guys on the mound," said Arizona manager Bob Melvin. "It went as advertised for six innings there."

Beckett said he was well aware of the bullpen situation.

"I knew our bullpen was taxed after that game yesterday, but that doesn't take away from what I'm trying to do," said Beckett, who gave up two earned runs on five hits while striking out eight in those eight innings. "If I end up going seven or six but do my job, I'll probably feel a little better sitting up here."

The critical inning was the seventh. Beckett walked Conor Jackson to lead off the inning before Chad Tracy struck out for the third time.

Mark Reynolds singled, and Chris Young doubled off the Green Monster to score Jackson, giving Arizona a 1-0 lead. Chris Synder hit a grounder to Brandon Moss, making his major league debut at first. Moss bobbled the ball, but got Snyder at first while Reynolds scored.

Beckett said the decision to stay in after the seventh wasn't his.

"It's not my job to make those decisions. My job is to execute pitches until someone takes the ball out of my hand and the game is over," Beckett said.

Despite the loss, Beckett might have helped win a game or two in the series by being so good for so many innings.

"If he had an early exit tonight, we would've been digging a lot deeper than we wanted to," Francona said.