BOSOX HAMMER TWINS, REMAIN PERFECT AT HOME
14-0 at Fenway; 26-4 Overall
BOSTON, May 3 (AP) - Pedro Martinez tossed eight innings of two-hit shutout ball
and his teammates made the most of a pair of miscues as the Boston Red Sox
remained undefeated at home with a 10-1 pounding of the Minnesota Twins before a
sellout crowd at Fenway Park. With the win the Red Sox improved to 14-0 at
Fenway this year and now stand 26-4 in their 30 games thus far this season.
It was the best performance of the year to date for Martinez (5-2) who was
nearly flawless, allowing only a lead-off single to Jacque Jones in the fourth,
a one-out double to Bobby Kielty in the fifth and a walk to Todd Sears.
The Red Sox lineup, meanwhile, put the game away early, with the assistance of
mistakes made by the Minnesota defense.
In the very first inning, Johnny Damon opened the frame by reaching on an error
Twins third baseman Corey Koskie. One out later, Nomar Garciaparra doubled
Damon home, giving Boston a 1-0 lead. Manny Ramirez then reached on an
infield single, moving Garciaparra to third and a sacrifice fly off the bat of
David Ortiz brought home the second unearned run of the inning.
The lead doubled in the second. Trot Nixon drew a walk from Twins starter
Rick Reed to open the inning and moved to third on Shea Hillenbrand's single to
right. Jason Varitek doubled off the Green Monster, scoring Nixon and
chasing Hillenbrand to third. Hillenbrand then came home on Damon's ground
out.
Boston blew the game open in the third. Koskie's second error of the game
allowed Ramirez to reach to open the inning. Ortiz singled to center,
putting runners on first and second and Millar bounced a single to left, filling
the bases. Nixon hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Ramriez with the
fifth run, and Hillenbrand popped up for the second out of the inning. But
Varitek drove a ball over the Monster and onto Landsdowne Street for a a
three-run home run and an 8-0 Red Sox lead. All four runs scored in the
third were unearned.
Boston tallied twice more for good measure in the fifth on a Nixon single and a
double play grounder off the bat of Hillenbrand.
The Twins avoided the shutout with a consolation run on Matt LeCroy's RBI single
in the ninth off Red Sox reliever Kevin Tolar, but the game was deep into mop-up
time by then.
The victory was the fifth straight for the Red Sox who seem determined to run
away from the rest of the American League East. Boston is the only team in
the division currently not below .500. The second place Baltimore Orioles,
who lost today to Kansas City, stand 14-15, 11 1/2 games behind the Red Sox.
5/3/2003, Min03-Bos03, Fenway Park 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Twins 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 2 5 2 2003 Red Sox 2 2 4 0 2 0 0 0 x 10 8 0 6 0 Twins AB R H BI AVG Red Sox AB R H BI AVG Jones,Jac lf 4 0 1 0 .395 Damon cf 4 1 0 1 .292 Guzman,C ss 3 1 0 0 .265 Walker,T 2b 4 0 0 0 .355 Koskie 3b 3 0 0 0 .262 Garciaparra ss 3 1 1 1 .350 Gomez ph 1 0 1 0 .139 Jackson,D ss 1 0 0 0 .258 LeCroy c 4 0 1 1 .286 Ramirez,M dh 5 1 1 0 .366 Hunter,T cf 4 0 0 0 .207 Ortiz,D 1b 2 2 1 1 .276 Kielty dh 4 0 1 0 .263 Millar lf 2 2 1 0 .276 Sears 1b 2 0 0 0 .300 Nixon rf 2 1 1 2 .372 Prince c 0 0 0 0 .083 Hillenbrand 3b 4 1 1 0 .363 Mohr rf 2 0 0 0 .250 Varitek c 3 1 2 4 .269 Cuddyer ph 1 0 0 0 .159 30 10 8 9 Rivas 2b 3 0 0 0 .235 31 1 4 1 Twins INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Reed,R L 1-3 2.2 7 8 2 1 1 64 42 6.92 Fiore 2.1 1 2 2 3 0 34 16 6.00 Santana 2.0 0 0 0 4 2 45 22 1.35 Rincon,J 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 13 10 4.00 8.0 8 10 4 8 4 156 90 Red Sox INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Martinez,P W 5-2 8.0 2 0 0 1 8 105 63 2.98 Tolar 1.0 2 1 1 1 1 20 13 5.40 9.0 4 1 1 2 9 125 76 Min: Cuddyer batted for Mohr in the 8th LeCroy moved to 1b in the 8th Prince inserted at c in the 8th Cuddyer moved to rf in the 8th Gomez batted for Koskie in the 9th Bos: Jackson,D inserted at ss in the 8th E-Koskie 2. 2B-Kielty(7), Garciaparra(10), Varitek(3). HR-Varitek(2). RBI-LeCroy(7), Damon(14), Garciaparra(30), Ortiz,D(13), Nixon 2(18), Varitek 4(18). K-Koskie, LeCroy 2, Hunter,T, Kielty 2, Sears, Mohr, Cuddyer, Damon, Walker,T, Millar, Jackson,D. BB-Guzman,C, Sears, Damon, Walker,T, Garciaparra, Ortiz,D, Millar 2, Nixon, Varitek. SF-Ortiz,D, Nixon. GWRBI: Garciaparra Temperature: 66, Sky: clear, Wind: out to right at 13 MPH. Attendance: 33,978 Game Time: 2:48