BOSTON — Jered Weaver sprinted to take the mound, but he walked slowly off it in the seventh inning.
Weaver had worked his way around constant trouble after allowing a rainstorm of fly balls at Fenway Park — 11 of them to center fielder Chone Figgins alone — and yet he stood seven outs from Southern California greatness.
If Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez do their jobs the way they normally do, Weaver would have cozied up alongside Fernando Valenzuela's famous 8-0 start to his major-league career. Instead, Weaver found out that seven outs feels like seven hours here, as the Angels lost, 7-6, to the Boston Red Sox in 11 innings to slip back into second place on Saturday.
Pitching to David Ortiz with two outs and a runner in scoring position is rarely a good idea, and the master of the game-winning hit did it again off lefty J.C. Romero. Ortiz lined a single to where the shortstop would normally be playing, but the Angels were in their severe right-side shift. The ball squirted into the outfield to score Alex Gonzalez with the winning run.
Weaver had been out of the game for over an hour by then. His chances of equaling Valenzuela's 8-0 start in his first eight outings ended when Shields allowed three consecutive hits in the eighth — one a monster Ortiz home run — and Rodriguez allowed one costly bloop double.
Weaver shook off the missed chance at history, but his teammates didn't dismiss it as easily.
"A couple things are really ticking me off right now. The first is that we lost a game we had to win," Shields said. "Then, to blow it for Weav . . . It hurts pretty good right now."
Weaver didn't get a ground-ball out until Jason Varitek rolled one to first base leading off the sixth inning. Weaver is a fly-ball pitcher, but this was a bit extreme. Figgins came one fly ball away from equaling the major-league record for putouts by an outfielder.
Giving up fly balls isn't a good idea at Fenway Park unless you can confine them to center and right field. Weaver had a solid game plan and he kept it away from the Green Monster. Left fielder Garret Anderson caught just one ball when Weaver was on the mound. Weaver said he enjoyed the experience of pitching here. He allowed three runs in 6 2/3 innings.