Julio Lugo was on the ball in the 11th inning, driving a single to left-center that scored the go-ahead run for the Red Sox.
(Nick Wass/Associated Press)
Red Sox notebook
Bay bloodied (a cut) and battered (5 whiffs)
Julio Lugo was on the ball in the 11th inning, driving a single to left-center that scored the go-ahead run for the Red Sox.
(Nick Wass/Associated Press)
BALTIMORE - Jason Bay took his hand from the side of his face and his fingers were covered in blood. He looked, confused for a second, then located a cut in his left ear. No, it wasn’t the five strikeouts that left him battered and bloody, but it certainly didn’t help.
“I strike out a lot,’’ said Bay, who has a team-high 76 this season. “Five times in a game is a first for me, but a win’s a win.
“Every time you open up the paper and have the box scores from the day before, every time you see one of those, I usually feel the guy’s pain. This one’s for myself.’’
Bay has watched his slump deepen by the day. Bay was 0 for 15 in the Baltimore series and is now 2 for 30 over the last seven games with 14 strikeouts. He was given a day off over the weekend in Atlanta, just his second of the season.
“Such is life,’’ Bay said. “Like I said early on, things were going well. I was seeing the ball, and everything was kind of falling into place, if you will. I knew it wasn’t going to always be the case, and that’s just one of those things right now. It’s not that I’m getting pitched any different, any tougher. I’m completely getting myself out. Just timing-wise, kind of in between. Can’t hit the fastball, can’t hit the breaking ball. It’s just one of those situations where everything that could go wrong is going wrong.’’
It marked just the sixth time in Sox history that a Boston batter had struck out five times in a game. Cecil Cooper holds the team record with six, June 14, 1974. Phil Plantier, George Scott (twice), and Ray Jarvis have the other five-strikeout games.
“He’s just scuffling,’’ manager Terry Francona said. “He’s in between. You can see, he’s a little ahead of the breaking ball. He actually missed a breaking ball in his last at-bat. You could see him kind of like, ‘[Darn], I should have hit it,’ then they threw him a fastball. He’s just in between.’’
Bay sees no straight path to getting out of the skid.
“I try everything,’’ Bay said. “I took extra BP the other day. A lot of it is just a timing issue. It’s definitely not the first time it’s happened to me.’’
Off from start
Josh Beckett was coming off 16 straight shutout innings as he settled in against the Orioles. From the first, it didn’t go as planned. The Orioles jumped on Beckett immediately, with Brian Roberts drawing a walk, stealing second, and Felix Pie singling him in. The Sox were down a run before an out had been recorded.“I didn’t think he had his best [stuff],’’ Francona said. “I thought his fastball was a little bit flatter today than it’s been. He didn’t have that normal movement. But they didn’t give an inch.’’
Luke Scott and Ty Wigginton led off the second and fourth innings, respectively, with home runs, and Nick Markakis smashed a two-run double in the third inning.
“He wasn’t locating the ball well,’’ Jason Varitek said. “He didn’t have a good feel on the ball, I don’t think.’’
Varitek said in Markakis’s at-bat in the third, it was more about the batter than the pitcher.
“Just left a lot of pitches out over the plate, and they got hits,’’ said Beckett, who allowed six hits and five runs in seven innings, throwing 107 pitches. “That’s the way it goes sometimes. If you leave pitches over the plate, good hitters hit them. I just think we had a little better tempo later in my part of the game, and got some outs.’’
Top pick signed
The Sox signed their first pick in the 2009 draft, outfielder Reymond Fuentes, along with four other picks. Fuentes, the cousin of Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran, comes from Fernando Callejo High School in Puerto Rico, and signed for a $1.134 million bonus, according to a team source. Fuentes, 18, was assigned to the Rookie League Gulf Coast Sox in Fort Myers, Fla. The Sox also signed outfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker from Ball State University (fourth round), outfielder Shannon Wilkerson from Augusta State University (eighth), catcher Michael Thomas from Southern University A&M (12th), and first baseman Chris McGuiness from The Citadel (13th) . . . Mark Kotsay was removed for pinch runner Jeff Bailey in the ninth inning. Kotsay said his calf tightened up during the game. Asked if Bailey was faster, Kotsay said, “I hope not.’’ . . . Jed Lowrie was examined yesterday and will head to Boston to be looked at by rehabilitation coordinator Scott Waugh. Lowrie was hit by a pitch last week and is still having difficulty with the contusion on his left knee. The knee is swollen, and Lowrie last played on Sunday . . . Daniel Bard impressed with two scoreless and hitless innings in the eighth and ninth to keep the game in control. He struck out the side in the eighth inning, getting Pie on a wicked slider and Markakis on a 97-mile-per-hour fastball. He got Nolan Reimold on a 98-m.p.h. heater in the ninth. “He threw the ball really well,’’ Varitek said. “That was in a situation where he goes backdoor breaking ball, and he had excellent life on his fastball and good location.’’ . . . The Sox improved to 4-2 in extra innings, 3-2 on the road . . . The Sox are 20-8 since May 31.Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com. 
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
