Prospects Push Red Sox Past Cardinals, 7-6

No television or radio broadcasts today, so I'm going entirely by box scores and Extra Bases reports, but this seems like one worth recapping.

The Sox' pitching staff started the day off on fire. Beckett quickly sat down all 9 batters he faced, recording three strikeouts. Papelbon, Okajima, and Ramirez would follow it up with three more scoreless innings, with Papelbon allowing the only baserunner with a walk while Okajima and Ramirez each struck out two.

Meanwhile, the Sox got on the board early as J.D. Drew was singled in by Bill Hall after he tripled to left. They added another run in the 5th after David Ortiz singled and then scored from first (!) on another triple, this time from Drew's replacement Josh Reddick.

The Cardinals would get their first hit--and run--against Manny Delcarmen, who allowed a hit and 2 walks in a shaky inning. Dustin Richardson was then the victim of incredibly bad luck, as a routine grounder with 2-outs hit an umpire. Instead of being out of the inning, Richardson was left to give up 2 runs on a double, and departed with "an apparent injury" per Peter Abraham.

Down 3-2, the Sox' prospects went to work, as Angel Sanchez (who is getting quite a bit of playing time...) and Che-Hsuan Lin both walked, setting up Jose Iglesias and his question mark bat with a big 2-out opportunity. Iglesias, as he has been doing since he came to Boston, did nothing but impress, taking Eduardo Sanchez deep and putting the Sox back on top 5-3.

Randor Bierd, who had replaced Richardson after his injury, ran into a great deal of trouble in the 9th, however, giving up 4 hits and hitting a batter without recording an out in the 9th. While Scott Patterson put out the fire, the Cardinals had taken the lead 6-5.

Which only set up more young Sox for some spring training heroics. After Aaron Bates reached on an error, Josh Reddick got his second hit of the game with a 2-out, game tying double, setting up Che-Hsuan Lin for a walk-off single.

The Red Sox are now 4-2 in the Grapefruit League, good for 5th place. Marco Scutaro recorded 2 hits. Kevin Youkilis was hit in the hand in the first inning, but had two more at bats and recorded a hit. David Ortiz managed his first hit since the Northeastern game. Che-Hsuan Lin now has 3 walks and 1 hit in 8 plate appearances, not including a 2-4 performance against Northeastern.