The Pirates defeated the Red Sox 9-4 thanks to a big fifth inning off of Josh Beckett and Scott Atchison.
The game started off promising, with the Red Sox taking a 3-1 lead in the fourth.
The offense had gotten going in the third inning, with a two run double from Mike Cameron, and stayed strong in the fourth with a Lars Anderson home run. Josh Beckett gave up a run in the second on a long ball to John Bowker, and had actually allowed the pitcher to reach base in the bottom of the third, but otherwise had kept the Pirates quiet.
But then things fell apart. With Josh Beckett scheduled to throw around 75 pitches on the day, he returned to work the fifth inning. It was clear he wasn’t ready to go this deep yet, however.
A leadoff homer to Ronny Cedeno cut the Sox’ lead down to one run, and things just got worse from there. Beckett walked Dusty Brown, allowed a double to Andy Marte, and hit Jose Tabata with a pitch to load the bases with zero outs before being yanked for Scott Atchison.
Unfortunately, he fared no better. The next four batters would reach base, scoring five more runs before the Sox could record an out. The Pirates sent twelve batters to the plate, and left with a 7-3 lead.
Only Daniel Bard and Andrew Miller managed to keep the Pirates off the board for an inning a piece. By the time all was said and done, Pittsburgh had scored nine runs and knocked off the visiting Sox.