MLB

Penny earns check

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Updated Jun 18, 2009 9:30 PM ET
     
 
No matter what happens with Brad Penny, the bottom line is he continues to pitch like somebody who would appeal to any team. A Penny start typically does not last long, but, more and more, the effort holds up until the Red Sox , who could be considering trading the right-hander or sticking with him, are able to take advantage of an opponent on offense. Penny held the Florida Marlins to just one run - an unearned one - in his five-inning start last night was in line for the win if a 5-1 Sox lead through eight innings held up. He needed 100 pitches to record the 15 outs yet as his bottom line showed, he continually was able to pitch out of jams. Penny's Daisuke Matsuzaka-like effort - vintage 2008, not 2009 - kept the Marlins from mounting any kind of attack. Meanwhile, the Red Sox found success in chipping away at Florida left-handed starter Andrew Miller. Down 1-0 in the second, Mike Lowell led off the inning with a single to left. David Ortiz kept up his hot-hitting ways by going to the opposite field with a Wall-scraping double that sent Lowell to third base. Rocco Baldelli, starting in right field primarily so the Red Sox could take advantage of his right-handed bat against the southpaw Miller, singled to right to score Lowell and even the game. Ortiz then scored the go-ahead run from third on Jason Varitek's double-play ball. Miller settled down in the third inning, surrendering a lead-off single to Dustin Pedroia, who would eventually steal second base, before retiring the next three in order. In the fourth, the Red Sox went at Miller again for another couple of runs. With one out, Ortiz worked a walk, then went to second on Baldelli's bloop single to center. A Varitek strikeout was followed by a Nick Green infield single that loaded the bases. Pedroia stepped in and laced a two-run single to right-center to push the lead to 4-1. Jacoby Ellsbury led off the seventh inning with a home run to right for the 5-1 advantage. Penny, whose good friend Chuck ``The Iceman'' Liddell of UFC fame was in attendance, came out to start the game clearly pumped up. The righty struck out Marlins leadoff hitter Chris Coghlan on a 96 mph fastball and followed that up with a 97 mph closeout of Ross Gload. Hanley Ramirez did not bite on a full-count 98-mph fastball that was out of the strike zone, giving Florida its first baserunner. With two outs and Ramirez on first, Jorge Cantu lined a ball to the gap in left-center that ticked off Ellsbury's glove for an error. The error, the first of Ellsbury's career, ended streaks of 232 clean games and 554 chances - the longest such errorless runs by an outfielder in team history. No outfielder in the majors had a longer stretch since Endy Chavez of the New York Mets went 253 games without an error from May 22, 2005, to May 18, 2008. - msilverman@bostonherald.com
Tagged: Dustin Pedroia, Andrew Miller, David Ortiz, Red Sox, Brad Penny, Marlins, Jacoby Ellsbury, Hanley Ramirez, Jason Varitek

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