Beckett wins No. 13, Lugo slams BoSox over ChiSox

Baseball Betting Lines

07/21/2007 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Beckett struck out 10 over six innings and Boston drilled the Chicago White Sox, 10-3 in a game that saw a home run call blown, leading to the ejection of Red Sox manager Terry Francona in the first inning.

Coco Crisp stroked the go-ahead three-run triple in the fifth inning and Julio Lugo had three hits, including a grand slam in the eighth, for the Red Sox, who snapped a three-game skid.

Beckett (13-3) rebounded from a loss against Toronto and joined the Cubs' Carlos Zambrano atop the majors' victory list this year.

Jim Thome blasted a three-run homer for the White Sox, who had a two-game winning streak broken. Chicago won the opener of the four-game series, 4-2, on Thursday, but Jose Contreras (5-12) surrendered 10 hits and 10 runs over 7 1/3 innings a night later. Contreras, who leads the American League in defeats, dropped his fifth consecutive start and has lost eight of his last nine decisions.

David Ortiz walked with two outs and Manny Ramirez was hit by a pitch in the Boston first. J.D. Drew followed with a deep drive to the wall in left-center field. The ball bounced over the top of the wall and hit a protective panel in front of where fans sit atop the Green Monster before bounding back to the field, but instead of a double should have been ruled a homer. Ortiz scored, but Ramirez was thrown out at the plate.

Francona vehemently argued, as replays showed the ball went over the wall, but Boston's manager was ejected by third base umpire Tim McClelland. Francona then tried arguing with second base umpire Paul Schrieber, but the call remained.

Juan Uribe and Jerry Owens singled to start the top of the third, and one out later, Thome belted his 16th homer of the season, a blast to center field for a 3-1 White Sox lead.

However, the Red Sox went ahead for good with a four-run fifth. Jason Varitek walked and Eric Hinske bunted for a hit toward a vacated left side of the infield. Lugo then bunted back to Contreras, who threw high to first, loading the bases. Crisp then tripled down the right field line, and scored one out later on an Ortiz single to right. Ortiz was thrown out trying for extra bases, leaving the Red Sox with a 5-3 lead.

Boston poured it on with five runs in the eighth. Ramirez singled, Drew doubled and Mike Lowell walked to fill the bases. Varitek then lofted a sacrifice fly to right. Kevin Youkilis was hit by a pitch before Lugo blasted an offering from Contreras well over the high wall in left.

Game Notes

Lugo has a 10-game hitting streak...Boston's Mike Timlin threw a scoreless seventh inning and hasn't allowed a run in his last 14 2/3 frames.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.