Times wires
Saturday, June 4, 2011
BOSTON — J.D. Drew stuck with his usual laid-back approach after looking terrible the previous four times at the plate. It finally paid off and ended a long day.
Drew struck out four times before he singled in former Ray Carl Crawford from second with two outs in the 14th Saturday, lifting the Red Sox to a 9-8 win over the Athletics after closer Jonathan Papelbon blew a four-run lead in the ninth.
"I had some good swings in all the earlier at-bats," Drew said. "Sure it's aggravating, you never want to strike out four times in a game. Even though I struck out four times, I thought I had some quality swings."
Boston won for 18th time in 26 games after Papelbon collapsed and was ejected along with catcher Jason Varitek a few minutes apart.
"I just lost my cool," Varitek said. "You can't argue balls and strikes."