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Thursday, Apr. 13 6:05pm ET
Veras takes base, Sox walk past Twins | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
BOSTON (AP) -- Wilton Veras is a free-swinger who has walked just 92 times in over 2,000 professional at-bats, and he's probably never had one as big as the one on Thursday night. "You saw my numbers, I don't like to walk," he said after drawing a bases-loaded walk to break an eighth-inning tie and lead the Boston Red Sox to a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins. "I don't think about taking a walk. I try to swing my bat. But it was, like, 10 feet away." It was 3-3 when Nomar Garciaparra singled to lead off the eighth, then Troy O'Leary walked. Carl Everett hit a double-play ball to second base, but Jason Maxwell kicked the ball around for an error that loaded the bases. Jeff Frye hit a fly ball to shallow left field, and Denny Hocking threw Garciaparra out at the plate for a double play. Eddie Guardardo relieved Bob Wells (0-1), walked Jason Varitek and then worked the count to 3-2 on Veras before throwing ball four far outside. "They may have been trying to see if he'd chase something, and he didn't," Red Sox manager Jimy Williams said. "It wasn't a base hit, but it was certainly a heck of an at-bat." Tim Wakefield (1-0) earned the victory with one inning of scoreless relief. Derek Lowe pitched the ninth for his second save. Matt Lawton had three singles for the Twins. Cristian Guzman scored twice and drove in Minnesota's other run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning to break a 2-2 tie. "We had a pretty good game, but it got away from us with the walks in the eighth," Twins manager Tom Kelly said. "Once we got the double play in the eighth, we gave the advantage back to them by walking the next two guys." Twins ace Brad Radke, looking for his first victory, took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh before giving up consecutive singles to Mike Stanley and Scott Hatteberg. Veras sacrificed the runners over and Jose Offerman tied it with a sacrifice fly. In 6 2/3 innings, Radke allowed three runs and six hits and two walks, striking out four. Despite the loss, his ERA dropped to 7.00 from 8.74. "He threw well enough to win, but so did Pete Schourek," Boston outfielder Trot Nixon said. Schourek made his first appearance at Fenway Park since his controversial start in Game 4 of Boston's 1998 playoff series against Cleveland. Williams picked Schourek instead of going with Pedro Martinez on three-days' rest, saving the ace for a potential Game 5; Schourek pitched well, but the Red Sox lost anyway. Again, Schourek pitched well but didn't get the win. He allowed two runs on six hits and four walks in 6 2/3 innings, striking out five but also committing a throwing error that allowed the Twins to take a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning. Schourek walked Matt LeCroy and Torii Hunter, then got Maxwell to hit the ball back to the mound. Schourek fielded the ball but threw it high and off Nomar Garciaparra's glove into center field, leaving the bases loaded with one out. Guzman hit a sacrifice fly to center to score LeCroy and make it 3-2. Boston tied it in the bottom of the seventh when Offerman's sacrifice fly scored Stanley. The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Guzman, Lawton and Ron Coomer all singled. Guzman doubled to lead off the third, took third on Denny Hocking's sacrifice bunt and scored on Lawton's single to make it 2-0. Nixon singled and scored on Brian Daubach's double to make it 2-1 after three. Daubach homered in the sixth, his fourth of the season, to tie it in the sixth. Game notesThe Twins led in all three games, but lost all three. ... Minnesota is expecting big crowds on its homestand against Baltimore this weekend because Cal Ripken Jr. needs four hits to reach 3,000. ... The Red Sox are the only team in baseball that hasn't stolen a base. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Minnesota Clubhouse Boston Clubhouse RECAPS Tampa Bay 6 Chi. White Sox 5
Boston 4
Los Angeles 11
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