Red Sox starting pitcher Josh Beckett missed his start on March 14 when he came down ill.
He made his scheduled start last Friday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he pitched in a weakened state and was largely ineffective.
So all eyes were on the big Texan this afternoon in Bradenton—hoping to get some indication as to whether he will be ready to take the ball on Opening Night against the Yankees, just 11 days from now.
Well, the Sox brass must have been thrilled with what they saw from Beckett today, as he tossed five innings of three-hit ball, striking out nine Bucs batters in the Red Sox' 6-4 win. The win broke the club’s four-game losing streak and was just their second win its last 10 games.
Of today’s performance, the right-hander said: “The most important thing today was that I felt good and I finished all my pitches. I felt like I could throw any pitch in any count. That’s the feel you want to get by the end of spring training.”
His effort was supported with home runs by C Victor Martinez, CF Mike Cameron, and SS Billy Hall. It was the second homer of the spring by Cameron and the first each for Hall and Martinez (who had two of the team’s eight hits).
The Sox jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a single by CF Jacoby Ellsbury and Martinez’ two-run home run. The Pirates cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning—it would be the only run they would score off Beckett in the game. Leadoff hitter Akinori Iwamura doubled, stole third, and scored on an infield grounder.
Boston added single runs in the second and third innings on solo home runs by Hall and Cameron, thus extending the lead to 4-1.
They added another run in the fifth inning on a double by OF Josh Reddick (his seventh of the spring) and Ellsbury’s sac fly to right, and they scored their final run of the contest in the inning on an infield single by Martinez, a double by OF Jeremy Hermida, and a sacrifice fly by Hall.
Pittsburgh scored three meaningless runs in the ninth inning off minor leaguer Fernando Cabrera.
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Right-hander Joe Nelson is making a strong push to head north with the ball club. He pitched another inning of shutout relief this afternoon, striking out two more hitters in the process. He has struck out seven of the last 12 batters he has faced.
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Mike Lowell made his second straight start at first base for the Red Sox.
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For those of you who are prepping for your fantasy baseball NL-only and mixed-league auctions/drafts, Bucs 2B Delwyn Young hit a two-run homer off Cabrera. It was his sixth of the spring.
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