It’s hard to judge the hitters early in Spring because the pitchers at this point are at such an advantage. That being said, it’s never to early to start an MVP campaign. Lugo and then Ortiz drove in a run each in the 3rd. Pena, Pedroia, Murphy and Ellsbury also collected hits and in the 4th the young guys built on what was then a 2-1 lead by driving in another couple of runs. Ellsbury got credit for both RBI. Also worth mentioning is the arm that Alex Ochoa showed off in getting 2 and almost 3 outfield assists, one of them at the plate.
All the Red Sox pitchers looked pretty good with the exception of Julian Tavarez. Schilling threw all fastballs, breezing through 2 innings in only 19 pitches (15 for strikes). He allowed only 2 hits, both in the second inning. Pineiro then came on getting lots of ground balls just as I saw him do in relief last year after he tweaked his arm slot. He was charged with an unearned run after Lugo made an errant throw that drew Youkilis off the bag. Tavarez was then the only Red Sox pitcher to allow an earned run when he gave up an opposite field home run to Joe Mauer which tied the game at 4-4. Julian’s “Juligans” must be disappointed. The relief pitcher was quite wild, missing his spots and almost drilling a Twins hitter in the head. Through 10 innings the Red Sox pitchers allowed 10 hits and 0 walks while striking out 6. I could definitely see how Romero was so tough on lefties last year (2.49 ERA, 1.22 WHIP in 25.1 innings). He pitched effectively against both righties and lefties but made lefties look especially uncomfortable by making the ball drop into the strike zone from almost beyond them.
The game ended in a 4-4 tie when Francona ran out of pitchers after the 10th inning. Neither team earned an advantage in the competition for the Mayor’s Cup.
