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BAL@BOS: Adrian's double gives Red Sox walk-off win
BOSTON -- The Red Sox engineered their finest comeback of the season on Monday night, pulling out an improbable 8-7 win over the Orioles that was capped by Adrian Gonzalez's two-run walk-off double off the Green Monster with one out in the bottom of the ninth.
Jacoby Ellsbury started the winning rally with a one-out walk against O's closer Kevin Gregg, and then he stole second. Dustin Pedroia worked a nine-pitch walk. Up stepped the red-hot Gonzalez, who drilled Gregg's first pitch to the opposite field.
The Red Sox trailed 6-0 and scored five in the bottom of the sixth, one in the seventh and two more in the bottom of the ninth.
Daisuke Matsuzaka lasted just 4 1/3 innings, giving up five hits and five runs. He walked seven and struck out two, throwing 106 pitches -- 57 of them strikes -- over 4 1/3 innings.
It was the third time in Matsuzaka's career he has walked seven or more.
This felt very much like a blowout in motion, and in the wrong direction for the Red Sox.
But it all started to come together in the bottom of the sixth, when J.D. Drew started a five-run rally innocently enough with a line-drive single to left, in which he was able to move to second when the ball moved past Luke Scott for an error.
Jed Lowrie followed with an RBI double, and the Red Sox were on the board. Carl Crawford reached on an error by third baseman Mark Reynolds, and Lowrie moved to third. Jason Varitek kept the momentum going with an RBI single to right against lefty Michael Gonzalez. With two outs, the red-hot Adrian Gonzalez roped an RBI single to right off Jeremy Accardo, and it was a three-run game. Kevin Youkilis sliced the deficit to 6-5 with a two-run double to left.
Alfredo Aceves gave one of those runs right back, as Reynolds helped make amends for his error by blasting a solo homer to center.
The offense was heroic, and it needed to be. Boston again slimmed Baltimore's lead to one in the bottom of the seventh, getting a leadoff triple by Lowrie and an RBI single from Varitek.
Matsuzaka was shaky from the start, putting his team in a 2-0 hole before it even took a swing. The righty walked three in that first.
He never settled into any type of rhythm. The Orioles increased their lead to 3-0 in the third on an RBI single to right by Matt Wieters and tacked on two more in the fifth.
Ian Browne is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Brownie Points, and follow him on Twitter @IanMBrowne. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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