TOKYO (AP) -This grand slam meant far less to J.D. Drew than his last one.
Still, his second homer in two exhibition games was a good sign that he’s ready for a strong start to his second season with the Boston Red Sox beginning Tuesday night with the first of two games in Tokyo against the Oakland Athletics.
Drew’s grand slam in the sixth inning Sunday night, five months after he hit one in Game 6 of the AL championship series, gave Boston its first lead in a 9-2 exhibition win over the Yomiuri Giants that was a homecoming for reliever Hideki Okajima.
Boston’s left-hander had spent 11 of his 12 seasons in Japan with the Giants before signing with the Red Sox last year. His 2.22 ERA with Boston was lower than any he posted in his nine full seasons with Yomiuri.
He relieved Bryan Corey, who played for the Giants in 2004, with a 4-2 lead entering the bottom of the seventh, allowed one hit and retired the side on a fly out and a double play grounder in his only inning.
Okajima’s pitches from the familiar mound were greeted by camera flashes from the crowd.
Drew had hit a three-run homer in the first inning of Saturday’s 6-5 exhibition win over the Hanshin Tigers.
Sunday’s blast was reminiscent of his unexpected homer off Fausto Carmona after he had struggled throughout the playoffs. The Red Sox won that Game 12-2 to even the ALCS then completed its comeback from a 3-1 deficit against Cleveland.
Drew then went 5-for-15 in Boston’s sweep of Colorado in the World Series.
Sunday’s grand slam gave Boston a 4-2 lead in the sixth against Adrian Burnside, who spent the past 12 seasons in the minors, the last in the San Diego system.
Boston starter Tim Wakefield allowed two runs in five innings.
The Red Sox added three runs in the eighth on Jed Lowrie’s homer and Brandon Moss’ two-run single. They made it 9-2 in the ninth on Coco Crisp’s RBI triple and Alex Cora’s run-scoring single.
In Sunday’s first exhibition game at Tokyo Dome, Oakland beat Hanshin 10-2.
Notes:Former Cleveland Indians outfielder Alex Ramirez hit cleanup for the Giants and went 1-for-4. He spent the last seven seasons with the Yakult Swallows, named for a yogurt company, and led Japan pro baseball last year in hits, doubles and RBIs. … Seth Greisinger, Detroit’s first-round draft pick in 1996, started and pitched two scoreless innings for Yomiuri.
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