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Saturday, October 30, 2004
Stitch in time saves Schilling
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BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox maintained home-field advantage Sunday night in the World Series, topping the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 in Game 2 at Fenway Park. The Red Sox, who won both games at Fenway, now travel to St. Louis. Three games are scheduled at Busch Stadium starting Tuesday, unless Boston sweeps the best-of-seven series. The Red Sox aren't talking about such a thing. "We have to do what's gotten us here," catcher Jason Varitek said. "We have to continue to concentrate pitch to pitch and push ourselves to outplay that team." Curt Schilling again pitched with a dislocated tendon in his right ankle, a tendon secured by sutures. He lasted six innings, allowing one unearned run, four hits and one walk, striking out four. Keith Foulke got the last four outs. It was the second time Schilling pitched with sutures. He said he was in so much pain Sunday morning, his start was in doubt. "I couldn't walk. I couldn't move," Schilling said. One reason for the pain was one of the stitches struck a nerve. "We took out the stitch and things started to change almost immediately," he said. Schilling isn't sure he can pitch again. He's scheduled to pitch Game 6, a game Boston can avoid with two wins in St. Louis. On Sunday, Boston got all of its runs on two-out, two-run hits: a triple by Varitek, a double by Mark Bellhorn and a single off the left-field wall by Orlando Cabrera. The pitching and clutch hitting again helped make up for shoddy defense. For the second straight night, the Red Sox committed four errors. Boston took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Varitek's triple. With two outs and no one on, Cardinals starter Matt Morris pitched carefully to Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, walking both. Varitek quickly fell behind 0-2 in the count, but on a 1-and-2 change-up blasted the ball to the deepest part of Fenway, hitting the base of the triangle in center field to score both runners. Morris used 32 pitches in the first inning, not a good sign for St. Louis. Morris, who has struggled the last two months, was pitching on three days' rest. He would not last through the fifth. Schilling was pitching on his regular four days' rest and looked strong, although he got into a minor jam in the second with runners on first and second and one out. Both runners were going on the pitch when Mike Matheny lined to third. Bill Mueller backhanded the liner, fell down and tagged Reggie Sanders for the double play. Mueller's error in the fourth gave the Cardinals their first run. Albert Pujols led off with a double and advanced to third on a fly to right. Schilling struck out Jim Edmonds and got Sanders to ground to third, but the ball bounced off the heel of Mueller's glove and he couldn't recover it. Pujols scored, closing the deficit to 2-1. It didn't take long for Mueller to redeem himself. His double in the bottom of the inning put runners on second and third, setting up Bellhorn's double to the center-field wall that scored two for a 4-1 lead. Matheny led off the fifth with a single, raising doubts about whether Schilling was tiring. But he struck out Marlon Anderson and got Edgar Renteria to ground into a double play started by Cabrera at shortstop. In the sixth, Schilling faced the heart of the Cardinals' lineup. He struck out Larry Walker and got Pujols to pop up for the second out. Scott Rolen reached on another error by Mueller, and second baseman Bellhorn bobbled Edmonds' grounder to put runners on first and second. Sanders then grounded to Mueller, and this time he handled it with ease and touched third base to force Rolen for the third out. Schilling came into the dugout having thrown 94 pitches, many of them splitters the Cardinals couldn't handle. "He didn't let us get comfortable," Matheny said. In the bottom of the sixth, Trot Nixon singled and with two outs, so did Johnny Damon. Cabrera, batting .300 in the postseason, came through with a drive to the Green Monster, scoring two runs. Alan Embree helped soothe the anxiety of those who wished Schilling would have stayed in the game longer, striking out the side in the seventh. In the top of the eighth, Mike Timlin relieved Embree. He gave up a walk, a single and Rolen's sacrifice fly, making it 6-2. With two outs, Foulke came on and struck out Edmonds. He then retired the side in order in the ninth. Now it's on to St. Louis. "Being up 2-0 is a great position to be in," Damon said. "The next game is the most important game for us. We're going to go out with that attitude, to win every game we play." St. Louis reliever Carl Eldred said: "We put ourselves in a tough situation, but hanging your heads is not what this team is all about." Staff Writer Kevin Thomas can be contacted at 791-6411 or at:
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