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Gabbard goes the distance as Red Sox blank Royals

Jul 17, 2007 - 3:53 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- While the disabled Curt Schilling made news Monday with a successful simulated game, it was his replacement in the rotation who made bigger news in the game that counted.

Kason Gabbard tossed a three-hit complete game shutout while Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez all homered to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 4-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals at Fenway Park.

Gabbard (3-0) outdueled Royals right-hander Brian Bannister (5-6) as the Red Sox won for the third time in five tries on a season-long 11-game homestand.

It was Gabbard's first career complete game at any level of pro ball and the third of the season for Boston. Gabbard also recorded a career-high eight strikeouts.

"Having (Jason) Varitek back there," Gabbard said of his catcher when asked the key to his success. "We went over the hitters before the game like we always do. He's so good at that and as a pitcher, I think it makes it a lot easier to pitch. Just one of those things. Pitched the whole game. This is the first one (complete game) of my pro career and I'm glad it is here."

"I don't pitch," Varitek replied. "It's about them executing pitches, actually. I just try and put them in a situation that's going to make them successful but I'm still not the guy with the ball. I'm just an aid. He did all the work and I just try to make some decision-making to make it easier."

Gabbard became the first rookie in the Majors this season to throw a shutout and the first Boston rookie since Paul Quantrill at Seattle on July 4, 1993.

"That's a well-pitched game," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "Right from the very first inning, he established a changeup to right-handers, a breaking ball to lefties, commanded his fastball with a lot of movement. He attacked the strike zone right from the very first inning. He got them in the swing mode, which, you have to. He's throwing everything for strikes. He pitched a very, very solid game."

Both starters faced the minimum through three innings with Julio Lugo's infield single the only hit between the two teams.

The Red Sox used the long ball to finally break the ice in the fourth. Pedroia lined a fastball from Bannister to left field over the Green Monster. Pedroia's fourth homer and first since June 15 was followed one out later by a tape-measure blast by Ramirez to the right of the light tower in left-center.

Gabbard retired the first nine batters he faced and faced the minimum through four innings.

"We got just three hits off of him," Royals manager Buddy Bell said. "He was pretty good, pretty good and we've never seen him before. He looked like he threw a lot of pitches over the plate and a lot of off-speed stuff on purpose. I thought he was pretty good."

The only runner to reach through the first four innings was David DeJesus, who was hit by a fastball leading off the fourth. He was erased when Mark Grudzielanek grounded into an unconventional 4-3-6 double play.

"With Gabby's sinker, you're going to get a lot of ground balls and a lot of their guys (keep their hands) inside the ball and they hit the ball well the other way," Pedroia said. "Their righties are going to hit the ball the other way so it was nice to make that play for him."

With one out in the fifth, Emil Brown lined a clean single to right. Esteban German walked and after an Alex Gordon strikeout, John Buck was hit by a pitch to load the bases. But Pedroia scooped up a slow chopper up the middle by Tony Pena Jr. and threw out the shortstop to end the Royals' only threat.

"I was playing up the middle and got a good jump on it and Pena runs real well so it's a matter of getting to the ball as quick as I can and trying to throw him out," Pedroia said.

"That was a game-changing play right there, with the bases loaded," Francona added.

The Red Sox doubled their lead in the sixth when Ortiz lined a 3-2 pitch inside of Pesky's Pole in right with Pedroia on for his team-leading 16th homer.

"It just came down to Gabbard out-pitched me and I got my first taste of the 'Pesky Pole,'" Bannister said. "It was a good experience and they're obviously a good team and a good lineup and I made a lot of good pitches but I can count on one hand the number of bad pitches I made and they got every single one of them so you've got to give their lineup credit."

It was the fourth time this season and 46th time overall that Ortiz and Ramirez have homered in the same game. Bannister was pulled after six innings, allowing four runs on five hits. He struck out three and allowed a season-high three home runs. Bannister had only allowed four homers in 80 innings before Monday.