MLB

It’s been a long way back for Boston’s Sizemore

There was a history of course — Grady Sizemore and CC Sabathia were Indians teammates over five seasons. And there was a less significant history after their days in Cleveland.

“I’ve faced him a few times,” Sizemore, now in his first season with the Red Sox, said Friday. “Obviously it’s been a while since I faced anybody. But I’ve seen him before.”

The fact Sizemore is seeing anybody again as a hitter leads to a tremendous sense of gratitude. For two seasons, he was out of baseball, rehabbing and recovering from microfracture surgeries on both knees. And those 2010 and 2012 procedures came after elbow surgery and a sports hernia negated much of 2009.

“It’s been a long road back for him,” said winning pitcher Jon Lester, the chief beneficiary of a mammoth Sizemore three-run, sixth-inning homer off Sabathia in Boston’s 4-2 victory at the Stadium. “Everybody in this clubhouse, everybody is baseball is glad to see him back playing and being healthy.”

Sizemore, hitting fifth for the Red Sox who signed him to a one-year deal, was simply looking for something to drive, something to hit hard. Sabathia obliged with a slider that found way too much of the plate. Jonny Gomes had started the sixth-inning party with a solo homer and after one out, singles by David Ortiz and Mike Napoli set the stage for Sizemore. The 0-1 slider found an adjacent zip code in right.

“He was kind of cruising, making good pitches keeping the ball down off the plate and Jonny did a good job of starting things off. Then we got guys on,” Sizemore said.

Then disaster for Sabathia (1-2).

“I was just trying to look for a good pitch. Wasn’t sitting on anything. Just looking for a ball out over the plate, something good to hit,” Sizemore said, stressing there was no insider knowledge of Sabathia’s tendencies. “Everyone pitches you different. It’s not like I had a lot of at-bats off him (2-of-7 prior to Friday) so it wasn’t like there were tendencies I was looking for.”

But he got what he wanted and the Red Sox were up, 4-1 at that point. Sizemore added a single in the eighth off reliever Adam Warren. In the embryonic season, he’s 10-of-30 (.333) with two homers.
Not bad for a guy many had written off.

“Just trying to hit the ball hard. The more I play, the better I feel,” Sizemore said. “Everything is still kind of rusty. It’s just getting the timing back, getting those reps. … I’m just focused on the team right now. I’m not too worried about myself, just trying to get ready for the next day and just happy to be healthy.”