Aceves led the game off by striking out Matt Joyce. Will Middlebrooks made a nice stab and threw out Desmond Jennings. Ben Zobrist flied out to end the inning. The Sox struck first in the bottom half of the inning. Jacoby Ellsbury doubled and advanced to third on the fly out by Shane Victorino. Dustin Pedroia scored Jacoby with a sac fly to make it 1-0. The Sox were 28-5 when scoring first. David Ortiz popped up to end the inning.
Aceves suddenly couldn't find the plate in the top of the second. Evan Longoria and James Loney drew back to back walks before the heralded prospect Will Myers (who the Kansas City Royals traded for "Big Game" James Shields) popped up trying to pull a Daniel Nava by swinging at the first pitch. Luke Scott doubled to tie the game and Jose Molina walked to load the bases. Aceves got some big help from his defense when Yunel Escobar grounded into a double play to end the inning. The Sox lead the majors in walks allowed but only 1 of them hurt as the Sox escape the inning tied. Mike Napoli made his return after a 3 1/2 game absence due to dizziness and drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the 2nd. Daniel Nava also walked but Jarrod Saltalamacchia banged into a double play. Middlebrooks walked but PU Drew grounded into a force to end the inning.
Acves induced a ground out to Joyce and struck out Jennings to begin the top of the third. Sox killer Zobrist doubled but Longoria grounded out to end the inning. The Sox re-took the lead in the bottom of the third. Ellsbury singled and advanced to third on the single by Victorino. Shane then took second on a 2-1 count but Pedroia lined out to second, failing to score the runners. Ortiz picked up his team by singling in the 2 runners to give the Sox a 3-1 lead. Napoli and Nava struck out to end the inning.
Napoli knocked down a grounder by Loney then flipped to Aceves for the out to begin the top of the 4th. Myers flied out to right and Scott grounded out to end the inning. Tampa starter Chris Archer struck out Salty to begin the bottom of the 4th and induced a groundout from Middlebrooks. Drew struck out to end the inning as the clouds looked ominous.
Aceves remained tough in the top of the 5th. He got Molina to ground out but allowed a single to Escobar. Joyce grounded back to the pitcher and Jennings grounded to short to end the inning as the grounds crew began to get the tarp ready. Ellsbury flied out to right as it began to lightly rain in the bottom of the 5th. Shane Victorino reached first on a throwing error by Loney. The rain came down harder as Pedroia walked. Better hurry up boys! Ortiz singled home Victorino to make it 4-1. Napoli struck out but Nava walked to load the bases and end the day for Archer. The Rays caught a break as the umps called for a delay just as Josh Lueke was finishing his warm ups. It IS an official game but MLB rules state the game must be completed with a second game to be played later tonight. The game resumed with Lueke striking out Salty.
Junichi Tazawa took over for the top of the 6th and struck out 2 of the 3 batters he faced. The Sox got more runs when Ellsbury and Victorino hit back to back 2 out triples in the bottom of the 6th. Andrew Miller continued his hot streak by striking out 2 more batters enroute to a scoreless top of the 7th. Napoli singled with one out in the bottom of the inning but the team failed to score him.
Koji Uehara replaced Miller and allowed a leadoff double to Joyce, who advanced to third on the force by Jennings. Zobrist walked but Longoria popped up for the second out. Loney struck out to end the inning with the 5-1 lead intact. The Sox went quietly in the bottom of the 8th and Craig Breslow had mop up duty in the 9th. Molina singled with 2 out but Escobar grounded out to end the game. The Sox had prevailed 5-1.
THE GOOD:
Hero of the night is easy. David Ortiz was 2 for 4 with 3 rbi's
Other babyfaces include Alfredo Aceves who pitched 5 innings of 1 run ball to improve to 4-1 on the season. Jacoby Ellsbury was 3 for 5 and scored all 3 times. Shane Victorino was 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored and an rbi. Mike Napoli was 1 for 3 with a walk. Junichi Tazawa, Andrew Miller, Koji Uehara and Craig Breslow all pitched scoreless innings.
THE BAD:
Jarrod Saltalamacchia was 0 for 4 with the hat trick of 3 strikeouts. PU Drew was 0 for 4 with a strikeout as well to drop his average to .211.
THE UGLY:
Dustin Pedroia was 0 for 2 with a walk but his sac fly drove in the game's first run. Will Middlebrooks was 0 for 3 but walked.
Final Thoughts:
Its nice to see the Sox win, but the rained screwed things up big time. Aceves was done after 5 innings and the Sox had to use 4 relievers. Normally that's not that bad but with another game to be played, 4 relievers burned leaves very little left in the bullpen. Pedro Beato. Franklin Morales and Andrew Bailey better be ready to roll in game 2. The good news is the Sox won and improved to 43-29. A win is a win and if the Sox can take the nightcap, it'll be a breath of fresh air after dropping 3 out of 4 to Baltimore.
No comments:
Post a Comment