BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox welcomed David Ortiz back
to the lineup on Tuesday. But rookie Kason Gabbard stole the
show.
Gabbard pitched seven scoreless innings and Coco Crisp knocked
in the game's only run as the Red Sox posted a 1-0 victory over
the Chicago White Sox.
Gabbard (1-3) picked up his first major league win in his debut
at Fenway Park. Recalled from Class AAA Pawtucket earlier
Tuesday, the lefthander had been unimpressive in four previous
starts - all on the road - for Boston, going 0-3 while yielding
nine runs and 16 hits in 11 1/3 innings.
"I was just staying down in the zone and throwing my two-seamer
away," Gabbard said. "Me and (catcher) Doug (Mirabelli) had a
pretty good game plan from the start. And it was just one of
those days where you just go out there and everything feels
good."
"Tonight, Gaby threw everything for strikes," Red Sox manager
Terry Francona said. "He sank the ball, threw a very good
changeup and he had his best breaking ball we've ever seen. It
was a swing-and-miss pitch. He threw it in the zone and out,
got a lot of swings and misses, got some ground balls, got the
lineout to (third baseman Mike) Lowell, which was huge and then
(Lowell) turned the double play."
The 24-year-old baffled the defending world champions, allowing
three hits and two walks while striking out six.
"The kid had a good night," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen
said. "Meanwhile, you have to expect better at-bats against
those guys."
Ortiz went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in his first game since
being sidelined with heart palpitations. The slugger had been
held out of the lineup for eight days after flying home from
Oakland and being hospitalized.
"I was thrilled," Francona said of the standing ovation for
Ortiz in the first inning. "You kind of knew coming in that
that's how the fans would react because of what David has meant
to everybody here. You know sometimes I thought some fastballs
got by him that don't normally get by him, but that'll change.
But it was nice to see him out there."
It was the second night in a row Boston got an impressive
pitching performance from an unlikely source. Much-maligned
reliever Julian Tavarez started in place of the injured Curt
Schilling on Monday and was impressive, allowing two runs and
six hits in 6 1/3 innings of a 3-2 win in the series opener
against Chicago.
"We face our division, when you have a tough guy every day,"
Guillen said. "All of a sudden, we play a couple of guys,
middle-of-the-road guys, prospects and stuff, and we're not
doing good. We're not swinging the bats good. They got us at
the right time to pitch against us. Hopefully (Wednesday) we
start to wake up and start to do some damage."
Trot Nixon doubled in the fourth and scored on Crisp's single
off Javier Vazquez (11-9) for the only run of the game. Nixon
was playing in just his second game after missing a month with a
biceps injury.
Mike Timlin worked the final two innings, allowing only one hit
en route to his fourth save. The veteran reliever was closing
in place of rookie sensation Jonathan Papelbon, who has been
sidelined since leaving Friday's game against Toronto with a
burning sensation in his shoulder.
Papelbon underwent an MRI on his ailing shoulder on Tuesday.
Test results indicated there was no serious damage, revealing a
"transient subluxation event in the setting of a fatigued
shoulder."
Vazquez was the tough-luck loser, allowing one run and three
hits in eight strong innings.
"I think Javy threw the game of his life," Guillen said. "I
think that's exactly how he was in Montreal. He threw today the
same way. That's a pretty good lineup over there. He was
outstanding. It's a shame he pitched that way and we didn't put
it together."
Rookie Ryan Sweeney picked up the first two hits of his career
for Chicago (79-59), which dropped 1 1/2 games behind Minnesota
in the American League wild card race but remained 5 1/2 back of
Detroit in the AL Central Division.
Boston (75-64) remained six games back in the wild card
standings.