Aaron Harang (1-0, 0.00 ERA) was unhittable through the first six innings. Mookie Betts led the game off with a fly out to left. Harang then struck out both Dustin Pedroia and Pablo Sandoval to end the inning. Rick Porcello (0-1), who just signed an $80 million dollar extension, started the bottom of the first by getting Ben Revere to ground-out. Carlos Ruiz singled but was erased on the Chase Utley force. Ryan Howard grounded out to end the inning.
The Sox mustered nothing against Harang in the top of the second. Hanley Ramirez and Mike Napoli struck out and Daniel Nava grounded out to end the inning. Porcello hung tough by getting Darin Ruf to ground out to second to begin the bottom of the second. Cody Asche grounded back to the mound, but Jeff Francoeur singled. Fred Galvis grounded out to first to end the inning.
Ryan Hanigan struck out to open the top of the third and Xander Bogaerts grounded out. Porcello has to hit under National League rules and struck out swinging to end the inning. That's 6 strikeouts for Harang. Porcello got revenge to begin the bottom of the third by striking out Harang. Revere flied out to center but Ruiz reached on an infield single. Porcello survived the inning by getting Utley to line out to center to end the inning.
Mr. Mookie lined out to to left to begin the top of the 4th before Pedroia flied out to right. Sandoval got the first hit of the game off Harang but was stranded when Ramirez grounded out to first to end the inning. Porcello kept pace by getting Howard to ground out to second to begin the bottom of the 4th. Pedroia made a rare error by throwing a routine ball away, allowing Ruf to reach first. Ruf was erased on the force by Asche and Francoeur also grounded into a force to end the inning.
The top of the 5th was more of the same with a Napoli fly out to right, a Nava pop up to third and a Hanigan fly out to right. Porcello ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth although Galvis lined out to short to start. Harang grounded back to the mound but Revere singled and stole second. A wild pitch moved Revere to third before Ruiz walked to put runners at the corners. Utley whiffed to end the inning.
Harang remained hot by striking out Bogaerts swinging to begin the top of the sixth. Porcello took strike three before Betts flied out to right to end the inning. Talk about a total role reversal from the first game. Who would have thought Aaron Harang would toss 6 innings of shut out ball with 8 strikeouts? The Sox pitching staff had tossed 14 consecutive shut-out innings but the Phills finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth. Howard whiffed but Ruf walked and Asche singled. Francoeur ended the drought with a 3 run blast to left. Porcello recovered to get Galvis to fly out to center and strike out Harang looking, but the damage was done. The Phillies now led 3-0.
Harang returned for the top of the 7th and the Sox tried to rally. Pedroia walked and Sandoval singled to right but Ramirez flied out to center. Jeanmar Gomez replaced Harang and got Mike Napoli to line into a double play to end the inning.
Robbie Ross Jr replaced Porcello and was given no help when Pablo Sandoval threw away a routine ground out, allowing Revere to reach third. Ross did manage to strike out Ruiz but Utley brought home Revere with a sac fly. Howard struck out but the game seemed out of reach with the Sox down 4-0.
The Sox finally got on the board with a rally in the 8th against Ken Giles. Ruf booted a grounder which allowed Nava to reach first. Hanigan walked and Bogaerts singled home Nava to cut the lead 4-1. David Ortiz pinch hit for Ross and....struck out swinging. So much for clutch hitting. Mr. Mookie flied out but Pedroia walked to load the bases. Sandoval then made up for his earlier error by walking to force a run. With the score now 4-2 with the bases loaded, old friend Jonathan Papelbon was brought in for the four out save. Ramirez then turned on a slider and drove it 375 feet to left...but the cold, April air allowed the ball to die at the wall for the third out. That was gone at Fenway or two months from now, but for now it was just a long out to end the inning with the Sox down 4-2.
Alexi Ogando was brought in to pitch the bottom of the 8th and struck out Ruf to begin the inning. Asche flied out to left and Francoeur flied out to center to end the inning.
The Sox failed to rally in the top of the ninth against Papebon. Napoli flied out to left before Nava popped up to left as well. Hanigan reached on catcher's interference but Bogaerts whiffed to end the game. The Phillies held on to win 4-2.
Jackass of the Night is Rick Porcello. He served up the 3 run jack to Francoer which proved to be the difference in the game. Normally 6 innings of 3 run ball is decent, not today it wasn't.
The Good:
Pablo Sandoval was 2 for 3 and walked in a run.
Alexi Ogando pitched a scoreless 8th inning.
The Bad:
Mookie Betts was 0 for 4.
Hanley Ramirez was 0 for 4 and just missed a grand slam in the 8th.
Mike Napoli was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
David Ortiz struck out in his only at-bat.
The Ugly:
Dustin Pedroia was 0 for 2 with an error but walked twice.
Daniel Nava was 0 for 4 but reached on an error and scored a run.
Ryan Hanigan was 0 for 2 but walked and scored a run.
Xander Bogaerts was just 1 for 4 but that one hit drove in a run.
Robbie Ross Jr gave up a run in the bottom of the 7th but it was un-earned.
Final Thoughts:
As I said before, if this was any other night, Ramirez would have hit a grand slam and this game would have been Boston's. As it is, the Phillies stole one to even the series at a game apiece. There will better days this season. Tomorrow night is the finale with Justin Masterson making his first Sox appearance in 6 years. One last thing of note, Jon Papelbon was interviewed before the game and he pretty much admitted he'd rather be in Boston right now. He came to Philly looking to win like he did in Boston and found a team that wins once every 30-40 years or so. After the game he pretty much was called out by the Philly media, I imagine this was his reaction.
No comments:
Post a Comment