Bullpen took game by the horns

Jonathan Papelbon is thrilled that Jason Bay tracked down Alex Rios's drive to left in the 10th inning yesterday. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press/Associated Press)

TORONTO - After admitting he might have lost track of the game situation before he entered a 5-5 contest in the ninth inning yesterday, Jonathan Papelbon was just pleased he pitched two scoreless innings and was able to turn the closing role over to Manny Delcarmen in a 6-5 Sox win in 11 innings.

While it was uncertain what Papelbon's confusion stemmed from, "I pitched well and our entire bullpen did a great job. That was a big win for us," said Papelbon, who was the first to pop out of the dugout to congratulate Delcarmen, who got the save after Jed Lowrie homered in the top of the 11th.

Papelbon only threw 16 pitches, so he could have pitched a third inning, but "I knew two was going to be it for me," he said. And as manager Terry Francona said about giving Papelbon a third inning, "I couldn't do that. I'd love to, but we can't do that."

Catcher Jason Varitek said, "If we're going to win this we're going to need everybody. And today we had everybody."

The bullpen can be the biggest source of frustration for major league managers. A bad one can suck the life out of a team.

On the other hand, if the pen is good, it can be a livesaver.

In its previous 10 games, the Sox bullpen had posted a 6.57 ERA (27 earned runs over 37 innings). But yesterday it saved the day. After Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched his usual hectic six the Sox were trailing, 5-4. Justin Masterson came on for the seventh, followed by Hideki Okajima, Papelbon, and finally Delcarmen, and they all were flawless.

The win allowed the Sox to gain on the Rays, whose bullpen's performance was a 180 from that of the Sox and who succumbed to the White Sox late yesterday.

"Everything we did today was possible because of the way we pitched," Varitek said.

Masterson went 1 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit. Okajima pitched two-thirds of an inning, with a strikeout. Papelbon, who got the win to improve to 5-3, worked his scoreless innings, and Delcarmen earned his first save of the season. Delcarmen issued a leadoff walk in the 11th, but he walked away with a smile and that big hug from Papelbon.

"That was a big situation right there and Manny did the job," said Papelbon. "That's exciting to see us pitch like that out of the bullpen. We need to do that."

The race for the postseason is so tight that the bullpens very well could decide things. The Rays had gotten along famously without the injured Troy Percival, but yesterday the White Sox rallied.

"These games are really important now," said Delcarmen. "You want to get in there and throw strikes and try to get ahead of the hitters and hopefully you come out of it with a win.

"Any time you go out there in that situation it's huge. Jonathan had pitched two innings and the game kept going on and it fell on me to do what Jonathan usually does. He's the best there is in the game, so you always have big shoes to fill when you're in there in his role. But we don't get to me unless Jonathan pitches like he did today."

This was a nail-biter from the time A.J. Burnett allowed the tying homer to Coco Crisp in the seventh.

Masterson got two outs in the seventh before allowing a single to Marco Scutaro, but he got out of the inning when Alex Rios flied to center. After Masterson got Vernon Wells to lead off the eighth, Francona pulled his young righty for Okajima with Adam Lind and Lyle Overbay, a couple of tough lefthanded hitters, up. Lind flied to Jason Bay in left and Overbay struck out swinging.

In the ninth, Okajima was about to take his warmups when Francona came out to change to Papelbon. While Papelbon was confused by the score, he got three groundouts and quickly was out of the inning.

In the 10th Papelbon, probably realizing by this point that the score was tied, got a scare when with two outs, Rios hit a long drive to left that Bay leaped for and caught. Papelbon let out a big sigh of relief and high-fived Bay on the way back to the dugout.

Lowrie homered in the 11th, and Delcarmen surely did not want to start his stint with a walk, but he fell behind the dangerous Wells and gave him a free pass. But something clicked then, perhaps because of the desperation of the situation.

Delcarmen induced Lind to hit a fielder's choice at second, and after Overbay flied to center, Jose Bautista, acquired Friday from the Pirates, struck out swinging to end the game.

The bullpens that are the most consistent in late August and September will get to pitch in October. But who can ever tell which will get the job done?

"I've caught guys in the bullpen who had nothing and then they go out and strike out the side," said backup catcher Kevin Cash. "It's usually hard to tell. I think all of our guys threw the ball well in the bullpen. I didn't catch everybody out of there today, so I can't say I had first-hand knowledge, but I didn't hear any complaints from anyone and that's usually a good sign."

What's also a good sign is that the Red Sox bullpen has been good on the road. Entering yesterday's game it had allowed a league-best .246 opponents' batting average on the road and had notched an AL-best 485 strikeouts away from home.

"We put up a lot of zeroes," said Francona. "If you don't in that situation, you go home. We'll take a win any way we can get it."

If they could bottle this bullpen performance, it would almost guarantee Boston a playoff spot. But unfortunately, it's never that easy, even for the best of bullpens.

Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com.

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