Actually, a pair of Gonzalezes, one on each team. The Sox started their rally by knocking around O's reliever Mike Gonzalez and finished it up with an Adrian Gonzalez walk-off wall-ball double in the bottom of the 9th that scored both Ells and Pedey.
What happened before the best Red Sox comeback of the 2011 season looked like the makings of a momentum-killing loss. Dice-K, who was drilled in the chest by a Brian Roberts line drive was very much the Mr. Hyde version for his 4 1/3 innings, walking 7 and allowing 5 runs. Some of that could have been due to his injury, but we've seen this Dice-K too many times to put all the blame on the unfortunate result of the first pitch of the game. Atchison, recalled from the PawSox when Lackey was DL'ed took over for Dice-K in the 5th and allowed another run to put the Sox in a 6-0 hole. It was looking downright ugly for the home team. Then the bottom of the 6th inning happened.
With Mike Gonzalez on the mound, JD Drew singles and reaches 2nd on an error by left fielder (and He Who Was Stupid Enough To Flip His Bat At Josh Beckett) Luke Scott. Lowrie's double plates Drew. Crawford reaches on a Mark Reynolds (Gee I thought the ball was in my glove) error. Tek captains up for an RBI single to drive in Lowrie. Gonzalez singles to bring Crawford home. Youk caps the 5-run inning with a double that knocks in both Gonzo and Tek, two runners who are not exactly fleet of foot. Papi walks, but Drew, batting for the second time in the inning, snuffs out the rally one run short of a tie with a groundout to second base.
As the Sox draw to within a run, Aceves takes the hill and promptly gives a run back to the O's with a cookie to Mark Reynolds. That's all the O's would get off of Aceves, though. He settles down to pitch 3 innings, keeping the O's at bay the rest of the way. In the meantime, the Red Sox had some more comebacking to do. Lowrie leads off the bottom of the 7th with a 3-bagger. Tek chips in another ribbie and the Sox are back within a run. They miss a chance to plate the tying run when, after an Ells single, Pedey lines out and Gonzo K's.
Two innings later, with O's closer Kevin Gregg on the hill, the two table-setters, Ells and Pedey take their walks, with Ells swiping second as Pedey was grinding his way to his own ball four. Up to the plate strides Adrian Gonzalez. His fellow newbie Carl Crawford already has two wak-off hits so Adrian had some catching up to do. He wasn't about to let his team come within a run and falling short after almost 4 hours of fighting their way back into the game, so he collaborated with the Green Monster to drive in both the tying and winning runs. After all, who wants extra innings on top of a 4-hour game on a cold, rainy Monday night? The Fenway Faithful who sat through the nasty weather and the hard-to-watch first 5 1/2 innings were handsomely rewarded, as were those who followed it long-distance, whether it be on TV, the internet, or the radio or some combination of the three.
A win like this can be huge for the Red Sox, especially following the weekend sweep of the Yankees and the long-awaited attainment of a .500 record. Now, they are over .500 for the first time this season and they sure don't want to look back. They have a tall task in front of them tomorrow night, however, as they send Wake to the bump to square off against promising young pitcher Zach Britton, who spun a gem against the Sox at Camden Yards last month. If they can win tomorrow night, despite a pitching matchup overwhelmingly in the Orioles' favor, that would be a sign that they have really turned the corner and gotten off that exasperating hamster wheel they've been on for the first quarter of the season.
Stay tuned for the Red Sox first quarter report cards! Lucky for them, tonight's comeback win has me in a good mood...
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