Red Sox top Rangers in makeup game

07/20/2006
BOSTON -- The Red Sox didn't get eight innings of shutout pitching from their starter like they did the previous two days. But they got what mattered the most.
Curt Schilling battled through seven innings, allowing 10 hits and four runs, while Mark Loretta redeemed himself for two outs on the bases by collecting three hits and driving in the go-ahead run to help Boston beat Texas, 6-4, in a makeup game Thursday afternoon at Fenway Park.
Boston finished its eight-game homestand with a 5-3 mark, winning the last four to build some momentum as it heads out on a six-game road trip through Seattle and Oakland, beginning Friday night.
With the stakes raised by Jon Lester on Tuesday and Josh Beckett on Wednesday, Schilling went to the mound looking for his 12th win to match Beckett and Toronto's Roy Halladay for the American League lead.
"I've always enjoyed pitching in a rotation where guys compete like that," Schilling said. "Early in the year, I went to Josh and said, 'Let's go. Pick it up. I don't want to finish one [win] ahead. You are going to win tomorrow and we'll be tied.' Now it's on. I've always enjoyed being in a rotation where you can do things like that."
Schilling (12-3) finished with six strikeouts while throwing 109 pitches. The Red Sox right-hander remained perfect this year at Fenway, improving to 8-0 in nine starts on home turf, becoming the first Red Sox hurler to do so since Dennis Eckersley started 9-0 at Fenway in 1978.
Schilling improved to 22-4 with a 3.75 ERA in 34 Red Sox starts in Boston. He has won his last nine decisions at Fenway since losing to Oakland on Sept. 15, 2005.
"I felt good," Schilling said. "I felt strong. They hit some good pitches, they hit some bad pitches. I didn't feel like I had to battle as bad as I had to battle. The sixth inning was probably the most disappointing for me from an execution standpoint."
Manny Ramirez's RBI double off Texas starter John Rheinecker highlighted a two-run first that gave Schilling his first of three leads on the day.
"I feel like that, here with this team, we're never out of a game," Schilling said. "The key for me here is giving our offense a chance early to score some runs, and I certainly didn't do a good job of that today. But we're a good team here. There's no question about that. This is a good place for us to play."
But the Rangers wasted little time responding. Brad Wilkerson's double drove in their first run and Rod Barajas followed immediately with a soft two-run single to right, plating Kevin Mench and Wilkerson and giving the Rangers a 3-2 advantage.
The three runs snapped the scoreless string by Boston pitchers at 22 innings, dating back to the sixth inning Monday against Kansas City.
Boston reclaimed the lead, 4-3, when Mark DeRosa misplayed Wily Mo Pena's fly ball to the warning track in right. DeRosa juggled it but it fell to the ground, allowing Kevin Youkilis and Ramirez to score. Pena started at designated hitter for David Ortiz, who missed his first game of the season with a sore back.
"His at-bat, the double that he hit to right field, was probably the biggest at-bat of the game," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "[Loretta] gets thrown out at the plate, Jason [Varitek] getting a 3-0 pitch that he likes and gets under it. Suddenly, we have a chance to turn a potential big inning into nothing. We get the two runs and that, to me, was the biggest at-bat of the game."
Texas tied the game on Barajas' two-out double in the sixth, but Loretta retaliated with his own two-out heroics, lining a single to center off reliever Bryan Corey (1-1), scoring Alex Gonzalez and putting the Red Sox ahead, 5-4.
"I was gratified to come up with the go-ahead hit there, and I thought it was a great team effort today," Loretta said. "We had guys who haven't been playing regularly step up. Schilling did a great job to keep us in the game."
Moments after his third and most important hit of the day, Loretta was picked off second base to end the sixth. That came after getting thrown out without sliding into home in the third inning.
"I was pretty bad on the basepaths," Loretta said. "The play at home, I kind of got off stride, tripped a little bit and that was my fault. On the pickoff, I was trying to get a big lead to score. It was a roller-coaster day for me."
Manny Delcarmen pitched a scoreless eighth, while Mike Timlin pitched the ninth for his second save.

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