J.D.: A real game-saver

With the Red Sox and John Smoltz coasting to a 9-0 lead Saturday night, there was almost no chance in the top of the fifth that anyone at Fenway Park would have thought that a defensive play an inning later would have been considered the play of the game.

But with Kansas City roaring back with four runs and the bases loaded and one out in the sixth, that’s exactly what Red Sox right fielder J.D. Drew provided.

With the bases loaded and one out and the Royals suddenly back in the game, Ryan Freel drove a ball to right field that Drew short-hopped for what appeared to be a clean single. But Miguel Olivo, the portly catcher for Kansas City, was caught in-between off third base and got a late break.

Drew scooped up the ball and in one motion threw a strike to Jason Varitek, stretching out like a first baseman at the plate, forcing Olivo and keeping it a 9-4 game. No single and no run. Just your ordinary 9-2 force-play at the plate. Billy Butler followed with a two-run single up the middle and it was 9-6 but it could have been worse - much worse.

“The play J.D. made at the time, that potentially saved us the game because what happened after that would have been worse,” Red Sox skipper Terry Francona said. “So, you never know.”

Drew came in on the ball, almost hoping that the ball would stick in his glove, not knowing for sure. But when it did, he knew he had a chance at an unusual, albeit very important, play.

“I think that was the first part of the play, just catching it, knocking it down, doing something because I was caught in between,” Drew said. “Then once it’s in my glove, I’ve always naturally gotten rid of the ball pretty fast so I was just trying to make a strong throw, a good throw for Tek to handle and try to throw it all the way in the air and it worked out that way.”

If the ball skirts under Drew’s glove, there’s no telling if the Red Sox, who lost a 10-1 lead in Baltimore two weeks back, might be re-visiting the wrong kind of history.

“You saw how fast it happened on TV,” Drew said. “You just try to slow it down. It’s just, ‘Uh oh, ball’s going to get by me, no, it’s not and throw him out.’ Unbeliveably, we got him out. That was the crazy thing.

“I knew the guy was probably going to be tagging in that situation but if I dive, he tags and scores,” Drew said of Olivo. “There really was not a chance for me to dive and catch it. it just ended up that I played the hop nice and got it out of my glove quick. The big key was throwing a strike and it worked out well.”

Olivo’s manager Trey Hillman was not as forgiving toward his own player.

“Bad read,” Hillman said simply. “He’s going back to tag up on a low line drive to the corner outfielder. You can’t go back and tag. You’re not going to score. You have to go halfway or quarter of the way and have some momentum going toward home plate. It’s not the read the third base coach can make for you. It’s a read you have to make on your own.”

Francona, sounding sympathetic but grateful at the same time, offered his perspective.

“Not often,” Francona said of the rarity of the play. “You see it every so often because the runners are in a tough spot. That play, seeing it executed, I don’t think you see it very much, but seeing it potentially happen, I think the average fan might kind of roll their eyes. But what do you do? That’s a tough spot.”

A tough spot is exactly what the Red Sox avoided on Saturday night thanks to their best defensive outfielder.