BOSTON (AP) -Curt Schilling settled down after allowing a run in the first, Mike Lowell drove in the tiebreaking run in the fifth, and Boston led Colorado 2-1 after six innings in Game 2 of the World Series on Thursday night.
The postseason ace held the Rockies to four singles and two walks in 5 1-3 innings in what may have been his final game with Boston. He’s unsigned for 2008 and the Red Sox decided in spring training to delay negotiations until after the season.
Colorado rookie Ubaldo Jimenez held Boston hitless through three innings before Jason Varitek tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the fourth.
The Red Sox wasted several scoring chances, stranding two runners in the third, fourth and sixth and leaving the bases loaded in the fifth.
After a day off Friday, the series resumes Saturday night in Denver. Daisuke Matsuzaka, the winner in Game 7 of the AL championship series over Cleveland, faces Josh Fogg.
Jimenez did what the four previous starters who faced the Red Sox couldn’t – keep them from scoring in the first inning. They beat the Indians 7-1, 12-2 and 11-2 in the last three games off the ALCS before their record-setting offensive performance in a 13-1 win in Game 1 on Wednesday night.
The 13 runs were the most in a World Series opener, and their eight doubles matched a single-game Series record. That rout stopped the Rockies’ 10-game winning streak cold and was just their second loss in 23 games.
Schilling left after allowing NLCS MVP Matt Holliday’s third single of the game and a walk to Todd Helton with one out. Hideki Okajima came in and retired Garrett Atkins on a groundout to first baseman Kevin Youkilis as the runners moved to second and third.
Okajima then got an 0-2 count on Brad Hawpe, who fanned four times in the opener, and the crowd began chanting, “Oki. Oki.”
And when Hawpe swung at the next pitch and missed, the crowd stood and cheered. Schilling went to the edge of the dugout and slapped hands with Okajima when the lefty reached the top step.
The 40-year-old Schilling was pitching his 19th postseason game. He began the 48-degree night with a 10-2 record and a 2.25 ERA in those games and was co-MVP of the 2001 World Series with Arizona. He entered Thursday’s game with a 2-0 record and 3.38 ERA in this postseason with 12 strikeouts and one walk.
The Rockies went ahead 1-0 in the first with the help of some sloppy play by Boston. Schilling hit speedy leadoff batter Willy Taveras with a pitch. After Kaz Matsui flied out, Holliday singled, a ball that deflected off third baseman Lowell’s glove.
Lowell retrieved the ball but threw it past Schilling, who was late covering the base, leaving runners at second and third. Helton drove in Taveras with a groundout to first.
With the score tied at 1, Jimenez retired the first two batters in the fifth. They were the last batters he would set down.
David Ortiz walked. Manny Ramirez sent him to second with a single. Than Lowell, who led Boston with 120 RBIs, drove in Ortiz with a double to deep left field.
Jimenez, a 23-year-old righty who throws a fastball at nearly 100 mph, escaped a close call in the third. After Dustin Pedroia and Youkilis drew two-out walks, bringing the sold-out Fenway Park crowd to its feet, Ortiz hit a line drive down the right-field line.
The ball hooked foul – barely – at Pesky’s Pole, and Ortiz lingered near first base and grimaced after the near miss. Once he got back in the batter’s box, Ortiz struck out with a check-swing on a slider.
Jimenez was recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs a week after the All-Star game and appeared in 15 regular-season games, going 4-4 with a 4.28 ERA. He allowed one run in each of his two previous postseason starts this year but was not involved in the decisions in wins over Philadelphia and Arizona.
Jimenez’s performance was a welcome change for Colorado after Game 1 starter Jeff Francis allowed four runs in the first two innings.
Pedroia, who led off the bottom of the first with a homer on Wednesday, was retired on a routine fly to left. Youkilis, 16-for-33 in his last eight games, flied out to center and Ortiz grounded out.
Jimenez started the second by getting Ramirez and Lowell on grounders, then hit J.D. Drew in the ankle with a pitch. But he ended the inning by throwing a called third strike past Varitek.
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