Walker Gives Red Sox Improbable Comeback

Tuesday night was a night of heroics as the Red Sox edged the Orioles 6-5 in what will be an instant Fenway classic. With the Orioles leading 5-2 with two outs and two on in the bottom of the ninth inning, 2B Todd Walker hit a three-run home run to right field to tie the game. David Ortiz put the finishing touches on an improbable comeback with a solo home run to left center to give the Red Sox their four straight win over the Orioles and keep the Mariners at bay in the Wild Card race.

With the Mariners losing to the Angels in Anaheim Tuesday, the Red Sox now lead the AL Wild Card by 3 1/2 games with five game to go. The Red Sox have taken the first two games of the four game series with Baltimore and Boston has won seven of their last nine games overall to put themselves in a very comfortable position.

The Red Sox took a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning when Nomar Garicaparra scored on ball hit by David Ortiz to Orioles' 2B Brian Roberts that was not fielded well. In fact, the Sox should have gotten more than the one run. Nomar singled, moved to third on a Todd Walker double, and Manny Ramirez was intentionally walked to load the bases. Boston could have had a bigger inning, but Kevin Millar grounded into a double play to end the inning.

In the top of the second inning, the Orioles began the inning with back-to-back hits off of Tim Wakefield. Jay Gibbons led off with a single and Tony Batista quickly followed with a double to put runners at second and third with no outs. After Wakefield got B.J. Surhoff to pop out, Baltimore CF Luis Matos hit a three-run home run to dead center to give the Orioles a 3-1 lead. with his 13th homer of the season.

Todd Walker drove home his first run of the game with a sacrafice fly to left field in the fifth inning, scoring Doug Mirabelli (who led off the inning with a walk) and cutting the Orioles' lead to 3-2.

Boston had no answer for Orioles' starter Eric DuBose. Dubose allowed just two runs (one earned) on two hits in five innings.
The Red Sox had something going in the eighth inning. Manny Ramirez started the inning with a single and was replaced by pinch-runner Adrian Brown and stole second and third base after David Ortiz popped out for the first out of the inning. With Brown on third, Kevin Millar struck out swinging and Bill Mueller flied out to center to end the threat.

To further dampen the Boston spirits, Baltimore added two insurance runs in the ninth to extend its lead to 5-2 when Jay Gibbons drove home a pair with a single to right field that was misplayed by RF Gabe Kapler. Brian Roberts led off the ninth for the Orioles. Larry Bigbie was then intentionally walked to keep the double play possibility alive, but Grady Little's tactic backfired.

With one out in the ninth, Jason Varitek singled to left field and then moved to second on a wild pitch. Vtek reached third on a Johnny Damon groundout. Needing runners, Nomar Garciaparra drew a walk to set the stage for Walker's heroics. With two outs and down by three, Walker smacked Jorge Julio's 3-2 pitch into the bullpen in right field to tie the game, sending the crowd into a massive frenzy.

Ortiz hit a solo, walk-off home run (to the seats on top of the Green Monster) to end the game off of Orioles' reliever Kurt Ainsworth (0-1). Byung-Hyun Kim (8-5) tossed a scoreless 10th to earn the win for Boston. Tim Wakefield started for Boston and allowed three runs on seven hits in seven innings.

The Red Sox had their share of chances Tuesday night but kept squandering them all night long. In fact, prior to Walker's game-tying home run, Boston had been 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

Be sure to visit our friends at EBAB.net to get your "The Curse...Reversed" T-shirts. No self-respecting Red Sox fan should go without one.

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