Tek sinks Pal's Night

June 21 , 2009 | Boston Herald | By Rich Thompson



Photo: Matthew Healy The last time Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek encountered Derek Lowe’s sinker they were batterymates in Game 4 of the 2004 World Series.


Until last night, when Varitek produced a pair of doubles to left-center field and scored twice while hitting against Lowe in the Red Sox’ 3-0 win over Atlanta at Fenway Park.


Lowe went 6 innings and gave up three runs on seven hits in his debut as a visiting player at Fenway.


Lowe and Varitek arrived together on the Red Sox from Seattle on July 31, 1997, in a trade for Heathcliff Slocumb, and their names were linked for the next eight years.


“I’ve seen Derek throw for so long and he’s a good friend,” said Varitek, who went 2-for-3 on the night against Lowe.


“I’ve played with him for too long to not see how he was doing (elsewhere). I had a ball fall in and I was able to get enough on the other breaking ball to get down through it a little bit.”


Lowe’s sinker stymied the Red Sox through four innings and produced 10 groundouts before Varitek stepped in with two outs in the fifth. Varitek drove the ball high off the Green Monster. After Varitek advanced on a wild pitch, shortstop Nick Green swatted a Lowe sinker off The Wall to produce the only run Red Sox starter Josh Beckett would need.


“It was one of those things where we know what he was throwing,” said Green. “He obviously had it going because he got a bunch of ground balls, but every now and then we were able to get the barrel on it.”


The bottom of the order came through in the seventh with the Red Sox’ third run. Varitek popped a one-out double off the Wall and Green brought him home with a single up the middle.


Varitek logged his 280th and 281st doubles, passing Nomar Garciaparra (279) for sole possession of eighth place on the Red Sox all-time list.


Green’s single brought Atlanta manager Bobby Cox out to the mound to relieve Lowe of the baseball. Lowe exited the field to a huge ovation from the Red Sox fans and he acknowledged their outpouring with a tip of the cap.


“It was a great thing to see,” said Varitek. “It’s been so long since he’s had a chance to be back here.


“As long as he was here, I’m sure he really appreciated that. I know it was really nice to see.”


Varitek’s primary function is to handle the Red Sox’ pitching staff and he guided Beckett to the third complete-game shutout of his career. Beckett threw an efficient 94 pitches, 67 for strikes and yielded five scattered hits with seven strikeouts.


“It was a mix with good quality location with his fastball, change, the sinker and four-seamer,” said Varitek. “He works off that.


“They were aggressive and put some balls in play earlier in the count and that’s big for a power pitcher like Josh.”