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 There was a balk. Three doubles. Two singles. And four walks
-- including three in a row with the bases loaded.
By the time their seven-run fifth inning was over Wednesday, the Red Sox led by a dozen runs and were well on their way to ending the Rockies' string of 10 straight victories.
"We've been swinging the bats since the last three games of the Cleveland series and carried it over to tonight," Dustin Pedroia said after the 13-1 romp.
Pedroia homered on the second Colorado pitch of the game and Boston kept on scoring ... and scoring ... and scoring, pummeling the Rockies with 17 hits.
They hit a Series record-tying eight doubles. They drew eight walks. Eleven of their runs came with two outs.
"Not sure what the score was," Rockies first baseman Todd Helton said. "They beat us pretty good tonight. No way around that. We didn't play very well but they (did). They came out and swung the bats and put a good old-fashioned beating on us."
David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and Julio Lugo had three hits apiece. Every starter got at least one except rookie Jacoby Ellsbury. He contributed, too
-- he reached on a fielder's choice and forced a balk, then later in the same inning drew a bases-loaded walk.
Everyone in the lineup drove in a run except for Mike Lowell, who led the team in RBIs this season.
"They have a lot of options," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "You pick your shots, when to take them. We went after Manny and that didn't work. We passed on Lowell
-- he had 120 RBIs this year. You keep pitching with men on base and you're barking up the wrong tree. We made some decisions that didn't work out."
Not until LaTroy Hawkins retired the Red Sox in order in their final turn at-bat did a Rockies pitcher manage a 1-2-3 inning.
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"Offensively, the whole night we did a good job," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "Even a couple innings when we got a couple outs, we didn't let them off the hook."
The Red Sox outscored Cleveland 30-5 in the last three games of the AL championship series to rally from a 3-1 deficit and advance to their second World Series in four years.
Turns out, they were just taking it easy on the Indians.
Pedroia, who drove in five runs in the ALCS clincher, homered on Jeff Francis' second pitch to start a three-run first inning.
"When he got that hit and got this offense going, that was one of the keys to the game," first baseman Kevin Youkilis said. "We just jumped on top early. I thought that was the biggest thing for us was to score runs early, and often. A huge lead for Josh (Beckett) is always a little more comforting."
And the Red Sox ace appreciated it.
"Knowing these guys, you feel pretty good when you go out there," Beckett said. "You feel like you're going to put up quite a few runs."
Jason Varitek's bases-loaded double in the fourth made it 6-1.
Things really got rough for the Rockies after Franklin Morales relieved Francis in the fifth. With two outs, nine straight batters reached base.
"I know pitchers can't stand two-out rallies," Youkilis said. "When a pitcher is out there, that one out seems like it's six sometimes. And that's how it was tonight."
[Associated Press;
by Jimmy Golen]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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