Bergesen solid, but Orioles edged by Red Sox

Bloop single in 8th inning ruins starter's strong outing

BOSTON — — The ball deflected softly off Daniel Nava's bat and hung in the air seemingly forever as three Orioles frantically gave chase, trying to preserve a tie game into the ninth inning and salvage one of Brad Bergesen's best outings of the season.

Right fielder Nick Markakis sprinted forward, first baseman Ty Wigginton hustled back and second baseman Julio Lugo angled his way into shallow right field. A couple of steps before all three Orioles converged, Nava's cue shot landed, and just like that, the positives of the evening -- a strong outing by Bergesen, a rare solid team defensive performance and an even rarer homer by Markakis -- were forgotten.

The pinch-hit single by Nava scored Marco Scutaro from second base to break the eighth-inning tie, and a shutdown ninth by closer Jonathan Papelbon secured a 3-2 victory for the Boston Red Sox in a game that lasted just 2 hours, 7 minutes.

It was the shortest game at Fenway Park since the Red Sox defeated the Cleveland Indians, 4-2, in 2 hours, 6minutes as Tim Wakefield and CC Sabathia dueled Sept. 17, 2002. On Friday night, it was Wakefield and Bergesen in an extremely well-played game that will go down as just another Orioles loss.

"As good of a game as that was on both sides of the ball for both teams, to have something like that be the deciding factor is really frustrating," Ohman said. "I made a pitch that was pretty good. He fought it off, [and] it got stuck in the Bermuda Triangle. There's no way anybody could get to it. You literally couldn't throw a ball to a better spot. That's baseball. That's the way it rolls, but it's frustrating."

Said Wigginton: "There's nothing you can do to defend that. That's that triangle ball. That's been a hit for over 100 years."

The Orioles (24-55) cared only that it was one Friday night. The hit effectively ruined the outing of Bergesen, who had retired 10straight Red Sox before Scutaro drove a two-out double off the Green Monster. The double was on Bergesen's 100th pitch, and it brought left-handed hitter Eric Patterson to the plate. A more fearsome left-handed hitter, David Ortiz, was on deck.

So Orioles interim manager Juan Samuel decided to go to the bullpen and bring Ohman, his lefty specialist, into the game.

"Will has been pitching in those situations all year," Samuel said. "We were very comfortable with that decision."

Once Ohman was announced, Red Sox manager Terry Francona lifted Patterson and turned to the right-handed-hitting Nava, who was ahead in the count 2-1 when he made soft contact on Ohman's 91-mph inside fastball.

"[Bergesen] pitched unbelievable," Ohman said. "He held down a great lineup. You can't ask for anything more than that. To have it go down like that, he doesn't deserve a loss, we don't deserve a loss for that. Final score, they have one more point than us."

That was also because Wakefield was every bit as good as Bergesen, surrendering just two runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out four over eight innings, his knuckleball dancing in and out, creating plenty of hearty but empty swings for the Orioles.

Markakis' fourth-inning swing was neither, and he put the Orioles on the board with a solo shot, his first homer since May25, his first on the road this season and just his fourth overall.

The Orioles then scored another run in the fifth inning on three singles, the first one by rookie Josh Bell, who moved to second on Cesar Izturis' two-out single and then scored on Corey Patterson's hit.

But the Orioles' 2-1 lead lasted just one pitch. J.D. Drew blasted Bergesen's 1-0 fastball over the Green Monster to tie the game. That came just three innings after Drew scored the first run with a homer to center field on a 1-1 pitch.

"They were not good pitches," said Bergesen, who gave up five earned runs on six hits and two walks in just four innings in his first start back from the minors last Saturday. He was a completely different pitcher Friday night, giving up the three earned runs on five hits and no walks over 72/3 innings, tying for his second-longest outing of the season.

"I wanted to go low and away on him, and I left it belt-high, outer third, and he got me on both of them," Bergesen said.

Drew, whom Bergesen finally retired in the seventh inning as part of the right hander's season-high seven strikeouts, has been getting just about everybody in an Orioles uniform this season.

He has two multi-homer games against them this season, and five of his 10 homers and 11 of his 39 RBIs are against Orioles pitching this season. Overall, Drew is 12-for-31 (.387) against the Orioles this season.

But it was not Drew's two long balls that ultimately sealed the Orioles' fate and made them losers for the 16th time in their past 18 games at Fenway Park. Nava's ball was not hit hard or well, but it was perfectly placed.

"That was a tough one for us," Samuel said. "You cannot defend those."

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