Streaks come to screeching halt

It was inevitable, but nonetheless a strangely hollow feeling for the Red Sox. You aren't going to go through a 162-game season without being shut out. The defending World Series champions had their first taste in 2005 of nine gooseggs, suffering a 2-0 loss to the Pirates on Saturday night that snapped a five-game winning streak.
The Sox became the final team in the Major Leagues to get shut out this season, and it was the first time Boston has been blanked in 86 games, dating back to Sept. 12, 2004, at Seattle's Safeco Field.

The man who had the biggest hand in stifling the Boston bats was left-hander Dave Williams, who went six innings, allowing five hits and striking out four. Rick White earned the win with two innings of one-hit ball, and Jose Mesa (scoreless ninth) finished it off.

The Sox left 11 runners on base.

"It seemed like we hit the ball hard at certain times," said Sox leadoff man Johnny Damon. "We just didn't get it done. We had opportunities in just about every inning ... it seemed like we definitely had our opportunities."

So did the Pirates, who stranded 15 runners. The game was scoreless until the eighth, when an RBI double by Humberto Cota put Pittsburgh in front for good.

The Sox got a second consecutive strong outing from knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who pitched seven shutout innings.

After enduring a five-game losing streak, Wakefield has allowed a total of one run in his last two starts, covering 14 innings.

"Wakefield was outstanding," credited Sox manager Terry Francona. "He made some real good pitches when he needed to."

Which only made the offense feel worse about its rare futility.

"Yeah, it is a wasted effort," said Damon. "We came into this game on a nice high, a nice winning streak. We felt pretty confident, but they put us back into place."

They did so by doing just enough against the Boston bullpen.

Following Wakefield's exit, the Sox went to Alan Embree, who hadn't pitched since June 10. Embree's night got off to a rough start as he grazed Ryan Doumit on a breaking ball with his second pitch. Rob Mackowiak sacrificed Doumit to second, and then Francona went to Matt Mantei. Jose Castillo hit a grounder to third, and after the out was recorded at first, Doumit took off for third and beat the throw across the diamond by Kevin Youkilis. Cota came up with the biggest hit of the night, lofting an RBI double off the Green Monster to make it 1-0 in favor of the Pirates.

"I was going all the way to the wall in case it came down," said Kevin Millar, who moved from first base to left field in the fifth inning, subbing for an injured Manny Ramirez. "With the wind, a lot of balls die."

Usually, the eighth inning belongs to Mike Timlin. But there was a reason Francona stayed away from his ace setup man.

"We needed to, we really needed to," Francona said. "He was in five of the last seven games and up in [one of the games he didn't pitch]. As much as we love the way he pitches, I want to make sure that continues."

The Pirates added an insurance run in the ninth off John Halama, getting a broken-bat RBI single to left by Doumit.

"It was just one of those games. It was going to be one or two runs to win this game tonight," said Millar. "You'll rarely see this lineup get shut out, especially here."

Though Williams had problems at times with his control, walking four and hitting a batter, he was able to get every key out.

The one batter Williams hit was Ramirez, and that wound up being a bad thing for the Sox. Ramirez, after being drilled above the left foot in the third, was pinch-hit for by Youkilis in the fifth. Ramirez has a bruised left leg and is day to day.

Source: http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/