Fenway opener ends in frustration

BOSTON – “America?s Most Beloved Ballpark” was festooned with banners, music, cheers, ceremony and somber reflection. It had all the ingredients of a good old-fashioned civic celebration.Then the ballgame began. And what a letdown!With all the music — from all the different genres — that punctuated the pre-game banner-raising ceremony, the one song that would have been most appropriate might have been the Beatles? “I Don?t Want To Spoil The Party,” because that?s exactly what the visiting Milwaukee Brewers did. And the Red Sox laid a 6-2 egg right out there on the fabled field.There was a reason, of course. Milwaukee starter Marco Estrada is exactly the type of pitcher the Red Sox, historically, don?t enjoy facing. While he?s not a junkball pitcher in the mold of former Baltimore Orioles ace Mike Cuellar, his game is to keep hitters off balance … something he did very well through his 5 2/3 innings Friday.?He made it tough for us to string consecutive hits together,” said manager John Farrell. “He did a very good job with that changeup of his.”The box score says the Red Sox were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, and that they left five runners on base. But sometimes, the game is as much about luck as it is anything else, and the Red Sox hit into a lot of hard outs. They also ran into an out in the second inning, trying to score their second — and tying — run when Grady Sizemore tried to tag up on a shallow fly to right.Milwaukee right fielder Logan Schafer had just made a bad throw that allowed the first Sox run to score, and Sizemore had stolen third. When Xander Bogaerts lifted one to Schafer in right, third base coach Brian Butterfield sent Sizemore, who ran into the out as Schafer made a perfect throw.?No second guessing there,” said Farrell. “We were going to test him. He made a good throw.”Starter Jake Peavy had given up the first two runs in the top of the second. Peavy, who was in trouble all afternoon, gave up a monstrous home run to Jonathan Lucroy to lead off the inning. Later, Khris Davis doubled and Carlos Gomez singled him in to give Milwaukee a 2-0 lead.That was all Peavy allowed in six innings.?I thought he made some great pitches to get out of jams,” Farrell said.Will Middlebrooks? homer with one out in the third — it just cleared the wall in left — tied the game. And that?s how it stayed until the top of the ninth, when Edward Mujica came in and simply didn?t have it.?So far this season, our bullpen has really performed well,” said Farrell, “but today, Mujica really struggled.”He didn?t help himself in the field either. After giving up a leadoff double to Davis in the ninth, Scooter Gennett tried to sacrifice him to third. Davis, who can run, had a good jump off second, but Mujica tried to get him at third anyway.Despite Davis? speed, and his jump, the play was close, but the runner did beat the tag. However, he came off the bag momentarily and it looked as if Middlebrooks? glove was still touching his back.?It looked as if he beat it,” said Farrell. “At least from where we were. It didn?t look like anything we could challenge.”Davis got back to the bag before Middlebrooks could swipe him again.Things disintegrated from there. Lyle Overbay — who was six days away from making the roster last year and getting a ring as a result — hit a two-run double to make it 4-2, and came home on Gomez? fourth hit of the day. And Aramis Ramirez singled home the final run.After Andrew Miller came on and walked two more Brewers to load the bases, he finally got the third out. And the Red Sox went down in order against Francisco Rodriguez in the bottom of the ninth.