By The Dozen

6th Inning Sox: 13 Victims of Said Inning: 3

When Wake walked off the mound as the last out was recorded in the top of the sixth inning, the Sox were trailing the Tribe in a 2-1 ballgame. The Sox were being mowed down by Cleveland callup Jeremy Sowers after scoring one run in the first inning. It was looking like redux of last night's game. Sowers was back on the mound for the bottom of the sixth and Lugo, who was DH-ing after Papi was scratched from the lineup with neck stiffness, stroked a single to left, his second hit of the night after a leadoff triple in the first. Pedey drew a walk, then J-Bay comes to the plate and ropes an RBI double up the middle, scoring Lugo. Lowell is given the four-finger salute to load the bases for fresh-off-the-DL Rocco Baldelli. Baldelli makes the Tribe pay for that move with a two-run single that plates Pedey and Bay. Drew walks to load the bases again. Sowers is pulled for Masa Kobayashi, having failed to record an out in the inning.

Bailey, who came into the game with an average below .100, doubles to left and Lowell and Baldelli score. Nick Green, who was not originally in the lineup, but inserted at short so Lugo could DH in place of Papi, legged out an infield hit. George Kottaras made up for his passed ball earlier in the game by hitting one up the middle to score Drew and Bailey. Lugo hit an infield single to third for his second hit of the inning. Pedey singled to left, allowing Green and Kottaras to cross the plate.

Kobayashi gets the hook, also failing to retire anyone, and Matt Herges comes on. Up to the plate strides J-Bay and, whaddaya know, he knocks a three-run tater into the bullpen, scoring Lugo, Pedey, and himself. That's twelve, count 'em, TWELVE runs scored before a single out is recorded. An American League record is broken! And, oh yeah, Wake gets a TON of run support and picks up his team-leading fourth W. Herges eventually puts out the conflagration by retiring Lowell, Baldelli, and Drew in order. No, I didn't remember all of the goings-on of the mega-inning for the ages on my own! I read the recap at redsox.com and it had the hits and runs scored laid out in a neat li'l table.

A total of 15 batters came to the plate in the inning, with the first dozen coming before the first out. Ironically, this inning reminds us of what those very same Cleveland Indians wreaked on the Yanks in the second inning of a game earlier this season. Fourteen runs scored in that inning, but it didn't take 13 batters to record the first out.

Wake's six-inning start, allowing two runs, seems like an afterthought in light of the offensive explosion. He had periods where the strike zone eluded him and the flighty, unpredictable knuckler, but he escaped jams in a way that would make his teammate Dice-K proud. Baldelli made a fantastic diving catch in the top of the sixth kept the Tribe to those two runs and Wake's season ERA under 3.

The Sox wouldn't score any more after the sixth, but they certainly didn't need to. It was one of those games where you wish they could bottle some of those runs and save them for when they really need them, like when they play against the Rays this weekend. Beleaguered lefty Javier Lopez allowed one more Indians run in the eighth. When was the last time this guy's had a clean inning? Saito came in and took care of business in the ninth.

Another weekend of Sox-Rays coming up. Let's hope it goes better than last weekend!

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!! THAT WAS ONE HELLUVA INNING!!!