Angels vs. Red Sox live inning-by-inning updates on Game 1
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Mike Penner will have live inning-by-inning updates for Game 1 between the Angels and Red Sox right here. Game time is 6:30. You can also follow Diane Pucin’s running commentary on how TV is handling the telecast by clicking here. You can also follow the in-game box score by clicking here.
FINAL SCORE: Angels 5, Red Sox 0
Angels see what happens when they give Lackey a little offensive support. The good news for the Angels is that they take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series. The sobering news: The Angels also won Game 1 against the Red Sox in the 1986 American League Championship Series.
TOP OF THE NINTH INNING (Angels 5, Red Sox 0)
Oliver clinches the victory in quick time. Martinez pops to third, Youkilis grounds to short, Ortiz strikes out swinging.
BOTTOM OF THE EIGHTH INNING (Angels 5, Red Sox 0)
Daniel Bard replaces Saito. What sayeth the Bard? He sayeth that’s enough scoring by the Angels. Bard retires every Angel he faces: Mathis on a strikeout, Aybar on the grounder to second, Figgins on a strikeout.
TOP OF THE EIGHTH INNING (Angels 5, Red Sox 0)
Drew leads off with a single to right. Ex-Angel Casey Kotchman pinch-hits for Gonzalez. Drew takes second on a wild pitch by Lackey. Kotchman grounds to third. That’s it for Lackey, having thrown 7 1/3 shutout innings. He leaves the game to big cheers from the crowd. Oliver comes in replace Lackey. Ellsbury grounds to third. Pedroia lines out to second.
BOTTOM OF THE SEVENTH INNING (Angels 5, Red Sox 0)
Ramon Ramirez replaces Lester. Not the best move Francona has ever made. Ramirez faces three batters, each reach base: he walks Abreu, hits Hunter with a pitch and bobbles Guerrero’s comeback grounder for a generously-ruled single. That’s it for Ramirez. Saito now pitching for the Red Sox. Rivera hits a grounder to third to start the common and traditional 5-2-5 double play. Morales lofts a single to left field, scoring Guerrero. Bay’s throw to third gets away from Lowell, allowing Rivera to also score on the play. Kendrick singles to right, Morales is thrown out at the plate by Drew.
TOP OF THE SEVENTH INNING (Angels 3, Red Sox 0)
Lackey rediscovers the strike zone. He opens the inning by striking out Ortiz and Bay, then gets Lowell to pop to the catcher.
BOTTOM OF THE SIXTH INNING (Angels 3, Red Sox 0)
Remember Kendrick’s last at-bat? The grounder to short, the high throw, Kendrick called safe at first when he appeared to be out? It happens again. This time, replays show the throw beats Kendrick by at least a step. Red Sox argue again, briefly, to no avail. Kendrick moves to second on Mathis’ sacrifice. Aybar grounds to third. Lester makes his 100th pitch of the game. Figgins drives it to deep centerfield. Ellsbury sprints back, the ball seems beyond his grasp, but he dives and makes a spectacular head-first catch just in front of the warning track. By that much, the Red Sox remain within three runs of the Angels.
TOP OF THE SIXTH INNING (Angels 3, Red Sox 0)
After two quick outs, Lackey suddenly looks vulnerable, perhaps tiring. He surrenders a single to right to Pedroia and walks Martinez. Pedroia is the first Boston player to reach second base this night. This brings a concerned Mike Butcher, the Angels’ batting coach, out to mound for a settle-down talk. Darren Oliver starts warming up in the Angels bullpen. Lackey keeps him there by getting Youkilis to ground to third.
BOTTOM OF THE FIFTH INNING (Angels 3, Red Sox 0)
Aybar leads off by drilling a double down the left-field line. See what happens when he isn’t instructed to bunt? Figgins does bunt, almost beating Lowell’s throw to first base. It’s an effective sacrifice, Aybar moving to third. Abreu walks again. That’s three in five innings. Hunter hits one high and deep, bouncing the ball off the fake rocks behind the center-field fence. Three-run home run, Hunter celebrates by returning to the dugout and spiking his helmet. Those are the first runs allowed by Lester in 19 innings of postseason work. How will the young pitcher respond? He gets Guerrero to pop to first, then yields a double down the left-field line to Rivera. Morales lines a ball bound for left field, but Gonzalez makes a sensational diving grab for the third out.
TOP OF THE FIFTH INNING (Angels 0, Red Sox 0)
Lack of offensive support continues to follow Lackey to the mound. It can weigh on a pitcher; Bay opens the inning with a single to left. Lackey is unfazed. Lowell grounds into a double play, Drew flies to right.
BOTTOM OF THE FOURTH INNING (Angels 0, Red Sox 0)
With two outs, we have our first controversy of the series, Kendrick hits a routine grounder to short, but Gonzalez’ throw pulls first baseman Youkilis off the base. Youkilis is forced to tag Kendrick and appears to complete the job. First base umpire disagrees, says Youkilis never touched the runner. That brings Boston manager Terry Francona out of the dugout to protest; replays show he has a good argument. Big picture, it doesn’t matter -- Lester strikes out Mathis to end the inning.
TOP OF THE FOURTH INNING (Angels 0, Red Sox 0)
Martinez, who has made Jason Varitek a part-timer at catcher, grounds out to first. Youkilis strikes out, Lackey’s first of the night. Angels shift into the ‘Ortiz Shift,’ which features second baseman Kendrick standing on the outfield grass halfway between first and second. Doesn’t matter, Ortiz strikes out to end the inning.
BOTTOM OF THE THIRD INNING (Angels 0, Red Sox 0)
Mathis bats for the Angels. Isn’t it amazing how often the player called for catcher’s interference in the top of an inning leads off the bottom of the inning? And then singles to center? Erick Aybar grounds to short, Mathis taking second. Figgins strikes out swinging. Abreu walks for the second time tonight. Hunter follows with a long at-bat, several fouled-off pitches, before he too walks. Bases loaded. Time for a conference on the mound. Guerrero sees three pitches, all strikes, he hits none of them. Lester pitches his way out of the jam.
TOP OF THE THIRD INNING (Angels 0, Red Sox 0)
After getting two quick outs (Lowell flies to right, J.D. Drew grounds to first), Lackey yields Boston’s first hit, a single to left by No. 9 hitter Alex Gonzalez.. Ellsbury hits a sharp one-hopper up the middle, Lackey making a nice grab and throwing to first for the apparent third out. However, Angels catcher Jeff Mathis is called for catcher’s interference and Ellsbury takes first. Pedroia flies to right.
BOTTOM OF THE SECOND INNING (Angels 0, Red Sox 0)
TBS analyst Buck Martinez says Lester throws a baseball like a football. Huh? Despite the confusion, he completes a perfect inning -- sandwiching strikeouts by Juan Rivera and Howie Kendrick around a fly to center by Kendry Morales.
TOP OF THE SECOND INNING (Angels 0, Red Sox 0)
TBS takes a couple minutes during the action to tell the Nick Adenhart story and how his memory has inspired his Angels teammates. Certainly Lackey looks inspired. He retires Kevin Youkilis (fly to right), David Ortiz (grounder to first) and Jason Bay (grounder to third) in order.
BOTTOM OF THE FIRST INNING (Angels 0, Red Sox 0)
Jon Lester pitching for the Red Sox. After Chone Figgins opens with a grounder to second, Bobby Abreu walks on a full-count pitch. Torii Hunter flies to left. Vladimir Ramirez, sporting the ugliest batting helmet in baseball, all crusted with old pine tar, hits a sharp grounder through the left side of the infield. It looks like a single until the ball is interrupted by Mike Lowell’s diving stop. From his knees, Lowell throws to second for the inning-ending force out.
TOP OF THE FIRST INNING (Angels 0, Red Sox 0)
TBS opens its telecast with a montage of Dave Henderson and other assorted Red Sox tormenting the Angels in the playoffs over the years. Just what anxious Angels fans needed to see. After that sobering note, John Lackey tries to reverse the trend. He opens by getting both Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia to ground to first. Victor Martinez flies to left and for Lackey, it’s a perfect inning.