Mar
Moss, Manny come up clutch
Rookie ties things up with blast, veteran drives in winning runs
By Ian Browne / MLB.com
TOKYO — The 24-year-old outfield prospect from Loganville, Ga., had to travel all the way to the Far East to club his first Major League homer. However, the timing was nothing short of perfect and the hit was the definition of clutch.
In fact, it was downright storybook stuff. Brandon Moss — who wound up propelling the Red Sox to a 6-5 victory over the A’s on Tuesday — wasn’t even supposed to play on Opening Day. But when J.D. Drew came down with lower back tightness in the hours leading up to the game, Red Sox manager Terry Francona turned to Moss.
The kid responded in the ninth inning, bashing a 2-2 pitch from Athletics closer Huston Street over the right-field wall to tie the game at 4. And Manny Ramirez, who has had countless big hits in his impressive career, added another, lacing a two-out, two-run double to right-center in the top of the 10th to put the Sox in front for good.
Ramirez had also been heard from earlier in the game, slamming a two-run double to left in the sixth that tied the game at 2. Moss also came up big in that sixth, roping a two-out RBI single against Oakland starter Joe Blanton that gave the Sox their first lead of the night.
But that bit of hitting heroics was offset when Oakland’s Jack Hannahan belted a two-run homer to right against Kyle Snyder with nobody out in the bottom of the sixth.
Former Sox relievers Alan Embree and Keith Foulke held that slight 4-3 lead for Oakland and presented the save opportunity for Street, but Moss ruined that bid.
The story coming into the game was the celebrated homecoming of Daisuke Matsuzaka. But the Boston right-hander certainly didn’t look like he was enjoying the comforts of being back at Tokyo Dome in his first couple of innings. In fact, the A’s worked him for 30 pitches in the first. Mark Ellis, Oakland’s No. 2 hitter, belted a solo homer to left-center to make it 1-0. Thanks to two walks and a hit batter, Matsuzaka put himself in position to surrender another run on Bobby Crosby’s fielder’s-choice grounder.
An inning later, Matsuzaka again was a bit of a mess, giving up a single and two walks to load the bases with two outs. But he made the pitch he needed to, striking out Jack Cust to get out of it unscathed.
While Matsuzaka (five innings, two hits, two runs, five walks, six strikeouts, 95 pitches) settled down nicely, the Red Sox at last got to Blanton in the top of the sixth.
From there, the game was a roller coaster.
Ian Browne is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Source : mlb.mlb.com
