Chicago, IL – Philip Humber was far from perfect on Thursday.
Just one start removed from the tossing the 21st perfect game in major league history, the 29-year-old righty labored through five difficult innings in Chicago's 10-3 loss to the Red Sox.
Humber (1-1) was flawless against the Mariners on Saturday, but gave up nine runs on eight hits, including a grand slam to Kevin Youkilis, in the opener of this four-game series.
"I left a lot pitches up over the plate and a team like that, they are gonna make you pay for it," said Humber. "Overall it was just a bad job of executing."
Jarrod Saltalamacchia added a pair of homers and Felix Doubront (1-0) allowed three runs on five hits over six innings for Boston, which was coming off a three-game sweep of the Twins.
"I like it when he's on the mound," Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said of Doubront. "He throws stuff that's hard to hit when it's on the corners."
Dayan Viciedo hit a solo home run and Paul Konerko had an RBI double for the White Sox, losers of three straight.
No major league pitcher has ever thrown back-to-back perfect games and Humber eliminated himself from contention by walking Mike Aviles to begin the game. Aviles then stole second, advanced to third on Dustin Pedroia's infield single and scored on Adrian Gonzalez's double. David Ortiz followed with an RBI single before Humber retired Youkilis and Saltalamacchia to escape.
Konerko scored Adam Dunn with a two-out double to deep center in the bottom half, but Youkilis and Saltalamacchia struck in tandem in the third.
A Ryan Sweeney leadoff double and one-out walks to Gonzalez and Ortiz loaded the bases for Youkilis, who lifted an 0-1 fastball over the fence in right for the second grand slam of his career. Saltalamacchia followed with a shot inside the right-field foul pole for a 7-1 advantage.
"It was a very patient offense. Everyone took what the pitcher was giving them," said Valentine. "When (Gonzalez) and (Ortiz) walked in front of (Youkilis), that's baseball at its finest."
A.J. Pierzynski scored Alexei Ramirez with a single in the home third and Viciedo led off the fourth with a homer, but Saltalamacchia countered with a two-out, two-run blast in the fifth.
Junichi Tazawa relieved Doubront with three scoreless innings to pick up the first save of his career and Sweeney tacked on an RBI single in the ninth to seal the final result.
Game Notes
Humber fell to 0-5 over his last nine starts at U.S. Cellular Field...While no pitcher has ever throw consecutive perfect games, one did toss consecutive no- hitters. In 1938, Cincinnati Reds hurler Johnny Vander Meer no-hit Boston and then the Brooklyn Dodgers in back-to-back starts. He is the only player in MLB history to accomplish the feat.
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