June 25, 2004: Manny Ramírez’s 5 RBIs help Red Sox to big win over Phillies

On the path to the 2004 World Series championship, the rain-shortened June 25 Red Sox win over the Philadelphia Phillies was notable in many respects. The 11-run margin of victory was the largest of any Red Sox game in 2004, matched by three other such games.1 Manny Ramírez had five runs batted in, the first of four games in which he drove in five runs.2

Both Ramírez and David Ortiz had home runs that led off innings. Ortiz’s homer ignited an eight-run inning that put the game away. Those eight runs were the most runs the Red Sox had scored in a single inning during 2004.3 And Pedro Martínez had one of his better efforts of the 2004 season, allowing just two base hits in seven full innings. His only better game of the year, in regard to hits and runs, was the June 8 game against the San Diego Padres, when he also allowed just two hits, pitching eight scoreless innings.4

This Friday night game at Fenway Park featured Martínez for Terry Francona and the Red Sox, squaring off against manager Larry Bowa and the Phillies and right-hander Paul Abbott.

The Red Sox, who were in sole possession of first place in the American League East as recently as May 30, had fallen 5½ games behind the New York Yankees, winners of 21 of their last 28. There was, in the words of Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy, “Rampant unrest in the Nation.”5 The Phillies were second in the National League East, only one game behind the division-leading Florida Marlins.

Martínez came into the game with a record of 7-3 and a 3.91 earned-run average. The 36-year-old Abbott was 2-6, with a 6.27 ERA. He had begun the season with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays but was released on June 3, and signed with the Phillies four days later.6

Martínez retired the side in order in the first. So did Abbott. In the second, Martínez pitched another one-two-three inning. Leading off the bottom of the inning was left fielder Manny Ramírez, who hit the seventh pitch (on a 2-and-2 count) for a solo home run into the center-field bleachers. It was Ramírez’s 20th home run of the season and the 367th of his career.

After the next two players made outs, Abbott walked Kevin Millar. Catcher Jason Varitek singled into center, Millar going to second base. Kevin Youkilis lined out to his counterpart at third base and the inning was over. Boston led, 1-0.

Martínez’s streak of flawless pitching ended with a one-out hit-by-pitch in the third, but he otherwise retired the side on fly-ball outs. Center fielder Johnny Damon singled to start off the Red Sox third, but was erased when Mark Bellhorn hit into a 4-6-3 double play. Ortiz swung at the first pitch and doubled to right, his league-leading 28th double of the season. Ramírez swung at Abbott’s second pitch and doubled down the line in left field, making it 2-0, Red Sox. Nomar Garciaparra hit a long fly to center field, caught by Doug Glanville for the third out.

Phillies second baseman Plácido Polanco singled to right to kick off the fourth, but never even advanced 90 feet as Martínez retired the next three batters. Abbott got Trot Nixon, Millar, and Varitek all to fly out in the bottom of the inning.

Philadelphia third baseman David Bell walked, the only batter to reach base in the fifth. He too never got as far as second. Abbott retired all three Red Sox batters, striking out both Youkilis and Bellhorn. After five full innings, it remained a close game, 2-0, both pitchers doing well.

Martínez got a groundout, a line out, and a fly ball in the top of the sixth. Red Sox batters then broke the game wide open.

It started with a leadoff home run by Ortiz, his 18th of the season, making it a 3-0 Boston lead. Abbott got the next two batters out, but Nixon walked and Millar singled him to second.7 Bowa decided to make a move and bring in the veteran Roberto Hernández to relieve Abbott.

Varitek singled to right field, driving in Nixon. Youkilis hit a “catchable ball to left field, but the ball went over Pat Burrell’s head for a double.”8 It drove in both baserunners and Youkilis went to third on the throw to the plate. The score was now 6-0.

Damon worked a walk on eight pitches.9 Bowa called on a third right-hander, Brian Powell. Bellhorn reached on an infield single to first base, Youkilis coming in to score the fifth run of the inning. Ortiz was walked on four pitches, one of which got away for a wild pitch.

With the bases loaded, Ramírez drove in three more runs with a double to deep right field.10 Garciaparra hit the ball to first baseman Chase Utley; Powell took the throw for the third out. The score was 10-0, Red Sox.

The eight runs were the most the Phillies had given up in any one inning that year, and seven runs scored after there were two outs.11 “It was fun to see us hit like that with two outs,” said Ortiz afterward. “It shows that we never give up and we really bear down. We’ve got almost our whole lineup now and I think we’re going to take off.”12

The Phillies got their lone run of the game when designated hitter and 2003 major-league home-run king Jim Thome swung at an 0-and-1 pitch and homered to lead off the top of the seventh. Powered over Fenway’s left-field wall, it was Thome’s 25th homer of the season, leading the majors, and the 406th of his career. He had 13 home runs in the month of June alone.

Left fielder Burrell walked, but then Martínez got a groundout, a popup to second base ranging out into shallow center, and then Mike Lieberthal’s “sinking liner” caught by Ramírez with a “diving stab” that earned him a curtain call after he’d gotten into the Red Sox dugout.13 Martínez had thrown 99 pitches, given up two hits, walked two, and had a 10-1 lead.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Red Sox tacked on their final runs of the game against Powell. Nixon walked to lead off the inning, and Varitek’s one-out single put runners on first and second. Youkilis doubled to center field and the Red Sox added two more runs.

Curtis Leskanic pitched the top of the eighth and secured three outs. Geoff Geary came on to pitch the bottom of the inning for Philadelphia. He got one out and the game was paused for rain, and eventually called after a 49-minute delay. It was over. The Red Sox won, 12-1.

In postmortem comments, Bowa said, “I thought Abbott pitched a very good game for us. Our bullpen didn’t do a very good job.” Abbott himself added, “It’s a catch-22. I’m happy that for 5⅔ innings I gave us a chance to stay in the ball game. The end result looks like crap. It’s frustrating. It’s always going to be tough when you get Pedro. You have to keep the score close.”14

The Red Sox picked up a half-game on the rained-out Yankees. Two days later, both Ortiz and Ramírez drove in three runs apiece, backing Curt Schilling in another 12-run outburst against Philadelphia. Their three-game weekend set with the Phillies, however, turned out to be the only series the Red Sox won between June 15 and July 4, and they continued to fall behind New York as the season reached its halfway point in July.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Carl Riechers and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Courtesy of the Boston Red Sox.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org. Thanks to Rebecca Alpert and Rich D’Ambrosio for providing Philadelphia news coverage of the game.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200406250.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2004/B06250BOS2004.htm

Notes

1 The Red Sox beat the Colorado Rockies 11-0 on June 17 and the Oakland A’s 11-0 on July 6. They also beat the Seattle Mariners 13-2 on September 10.

2 He also drove in five runs on July 10 against the Texas Rangers, on August 21 against the Chicago White Sox, and on September 10 against Seattle. Ramírez had 27 five-RBI games in his career. He drove in six runs six times, including twice with the Red Sox. His career high was an eight-RBI game with the Cleveland Indians in September 1999.

3 They later scored eight runs in the fourth inning on July 20, 2004.

4 In the June 8 game, one of the hits was a double and the other a single.

5 Dan Shaughnessy, “Pedro Reigns Supreme with an Electric Outing,” Boston Globe, June 26, 2004: E1. The reference was to Red Sox Nation.

6 Abbott had worked five scoreless innings in his first outing for Philadelphia on June 13 but suffered a loss on June 18 against the Kansas City Royals, giving up four runs in four innings.

7 Millar had dyed his hair blond before the game, as noted in more than one Boston newspaper.

8 Todd Zolecki, “Phillies Routed as ’Pen Is Lit Up,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 26, 2004: D1.

9 Hernández said, “I haven’t done my job. I get ahead, but the crispness of the pitches isn’t happening. It’s not coming out the way it was early in the season or a month ago. … Not to get one out in that inning is very frustrating. I didn’t do my job to give my team a chance.” Zolecki. After the game, Bowa announced that he would in effect be demoting Hernández to a lesser role. See Marcus Hayes, “Hernandez to Be Put on Back Burner,” Philadelphia Daily News, June 26, 2004: 46.

10 It was his second at-bat in the sixth. His first time up he had been “robbed of a home run when right fielder Bobby Abreu reached into the bullpen and snagged his drive.” Nick Cafardo, “Lowering the Boom,” Boston Globe, June 26, 2004: E1.

11 Bob Cooney, “Boston’s 1-2 Punch KO’s Phillies,” Philadelphia Daily News, June 26, 2004: 46. The headline referred to Ramírez and Pedro Martínez. Ramírez was kept busy in left field, catching eight fly balls for outs.

12 Nick Cafardo, “Ortiz Has Been Feeling Groovy at the Plate,” Boston Globe, June 26, 2004: E6.

13 Shaughnessy. Pedro Martínez was quoted as saying, “That was one of the best catches I’ve seen.” Ramírez himself joked about getting back in the Gold Glove race: “I don’t know, man but I think [eight-time Gold Glover] Dwight Evans is going to have some nightmares tonight.” Bob Hohler, “Retiring Ramírez Labor for Opposition,” Boston Globe, June 26, 2004: 57.

14 Zolecki.