The Sox wasted no time clobbering Twins starter Kyle Gibson in the top of the first inning. Mr. Mookie Betts beat out an infield single just past the mound but Dustin Pedroia popped up to center. Xander Bogaerts pounded the left field fence with a double to score Betts to put the Sox on top. David Ortiz popped up a mile to third but Hanley Ramirez drew a walk. Jackie Bradley Jr put the Sox up big with a 3 run bomb to right, his 10th of the season. Chris Young lined one off of Gibson but he threw him out at first to end the inning with the Sox up 4-0.
Rodriguez got the ball in the bottom of the first and got Eduardo Nunez to swing at air to start. Joe Mauer flied out to deep left before Robbie Grossman took a walk. Trevor Plouffe was blown away on a 95 mph fastball to end the inning.
Travis Shaw was retired on a swinging bunt by Gibson to begin the top of the second inning. Sandy Leon poked an opposite field base hit to left but was erased on the Mr. Mookie double play to end the inning. Brian Dozier popped up to second to start the bottom of the second before Byung Ho Park swung at air and Max Kepler grounded out to second to end the inning.
Pedroia grounded out to short to open the top of the third before Bogaerts flied out to the centerfield warning track. Ortiz hit a bullet off the right field wall for a single but Ramirez took strike three at the knees to end the inning. Kurt Suzuki led off the bottom of the third by grounding out to short before Byron Buxton drew a walk. Nunez then hit a bullet off the right field wall to advance Buxton to third but Mr. Mookie gunned down Eduardo at second with a great throw. Mauer walked but Grossman popped up to Mr. Mookie to end the inning.
The Sox did nothing against Gibson in the top of the fourth inning as JBJ swung at a pitch in the dirt for strike three to start. Young popped up to short and Shaw grounded out to first to end the inning. Rodriguez finally got tagged in the bottom of the fourth although Plouffe popped up to Hanley in foul territory to start. Sox analyst Dave O'Brien was so bored he saw some random hot dog vendor and said it was Brett Farve. Dozier walked but Park took strike three on the inside corner. Kepler singled off the third base bag and Suzuki blasted a 67,000 foot home run to put the Twins back in the game. Buxton grounded out to third to end the inning but the Sox were now ahead 4-3.
Leon led off the top of the fifth with a base hit to left but Mr. Mookie lined out to a running Grossman. Leon was erased on the force by Pedroia and Dustin was picked off to end the inning. Rodriguez didn't make it out of the bottom of the fifth although Nunez grounded out to second on the first pitch. Mauer got a base hit up the middle before taking second on a passed ball. Grossman singled Mauer to third and Plouffe hit a 410 foot out to dead center although it scored Mauer with the tying run. Dozier slashed a base hit to left to chase E-Rod from the game. The two pitch Rodriguez got hammered the last two innings and left after just 4 2/3 innings. Heath Hembree (3-0, 1.85 ERA) came in and got Park to pop up to second to end the inning.
The Sox wasted no time getting the lead back in the top of the sixth as Bogaerts golfed a single to left to start. Bogaerts took advantage of the shift by going all the way to third on a grounder to short by Ortiz with nobody covering third. Hanley drove home Bogaerts with a sac fly to give the Sox the lead. That was it for Gibson as Taylor Rogers was brought in to face JBJ. Bradley flied out to deep right to end the inning with the Sox ahead 5-4.
Hembree returned for the bottom of the sixth and Kepler led off with a walk. Suzuki waived at strike three but a passed ball through the legs of Leon moved Kepler to second. Buxton drew a walk but Nunez popped up to right in foul territory. Sox manager John Farrell had seen enough of Hembree and brought in Robbie Ross Jr to pitch to Mauer. Mauer grounded into a force to end the inning with the Sox still in the lead.
Young led off the top of the seventh by flying out to left before Shaw popped up to Kepler in foul territory. Leon doubled off the third base bag to chase Rogers from the game. Ryan Pressly came in and Mr. Mookie grounded out to short to end the inning. One half of the Orient Express, Junichi Tazawa, came in for the bottom of the seventh and blew away Grossman with a fastball down the middle to start. Plouffe popped up to Pedroia in shallow center but Dozier pounded a base hit to left. Oswaldo Arcia pinch hit for Park and grounded out to second to end the inning.
The Sox caught a break when Arcia dropped a routine pop up by Pedroia to begin the top of the eighth.
Bogaerts made the Twins pay with his 8th home run of the season (more than he hit in 2015) to increase the lead. Ortiz hit a 410 foot single off the centerfield wall but Ramirez flied out to right to chase Pressly. Buddy Boshers came in to pitch and JBJ whiffed, but Young drew a walk. Shaw hit a routine grounder back to the mound but Boshers airmailed the throw which allowed Ortiz to score as the boo birds rained down. Leon put the exclamation point on the inning with a base hit to left to score Young and Shaw. Mr. Mookie grounded back to the mound to end the inning but the Sox were ahead 10-4.
The other half of the Orient Express, Koji Uehara, came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and cruised. Kepler popped up to short, Suzuki watched strike three go by and Buxton swung at air for strike three to end the inning.
JT Chargois came in to pitch the top of the ninth and the Sox had another rally left in them. Pedroia led off with a bullet right to first for the out but Bogaerts singled up the middle for his fourth hit of the day two days in a row. Ortiz lined a base hit to left and was lifted for Rusney Castillo to run for him. Hanley moved both runners over with a ground out and JBJ was plunked to load the bases. Young drove home Bogaerts and Castillo with a base hit before Shaw walked to re-load the bases. A passed ball scored JBJ with another run and Leon walked to once again re-load the bases. That was it for Chargois as Brandon Kintzler came in just to give up a base hit to Mr. Mookie that scored both Young & Shaw to wrap up the scoring. Pedroia's 16 game hitting streak was snapped as he popped up to second to end the inning with the Sox ahead 15-4.
Clay Buchholz had mop up duty in the bottom of the ninth with Sox manager John Farrell emptying the bench. Shaw moved to first, Marco Hernandez took over for Pedroia at second, Josh Rutledge took over for Hanley Ramirez but played third and Castillo took over in right for Betts. JBJ made a nice running grab off a Nunez liner to start before Eduardo Escobar pinch hit for Mauer. Escobar and Grossman drew back to back walks but Plouffe banged into a double play to end the game. The Sox turned this one into a rout late to win it 15-4.
Hero of the Night is Xander Bogaerts. His heads up baserunning led to the go-ahead run scoring and his two run homer was all the insurance they needed to win.
The Good:
Mookie Betts was 2 for 6 with 2 rbis and a run scored.
David Ortiz was 3 for 5 with a run scored.
Rusney Castillo scored a run as a pinch runner.
Sandy Leon was 4 for 4 with a walk and 2 rbis.
Heath Hembree tossed a scoreless inning.
Robbie Ross Jr got the only man he faced.
Junichi Tazawa pitched a scoreless 7th inning.
Koji Uehara pitched a scoreless 8th inning.
Clay Buchholz tossed a scoreless 9th inning.
The Bad:
Eduardo Rodriguez failed to get out of the fifth inning, lasting just 4 2/3 innings while allowing 4 runs off 6 its and 4 walks.
The Ugly:
Dustin Pedroia snapped his 16 game hitting streak by going 0 for 6 but scored a run.
Hanley Ramirez was 0 for 3 but walked, drove in a run and scored.
Jackie Bradley Jr was just 1 for 4 but the one hit was a 3 run bomb, he also scored two total runs.
Chris Young was just 1 for 4 but walked, drove in 2 runs and scored twice.
Travis Shaw was 0 for 4 but walked and scored twice.
Honorable Mention:
Marco Hernandez played second base in the bottom of the ninth.
Josh Rutledge played third base in the bottom of the ninth.
Final Thoughts:
The Sox needed to beat around the worst time in the American League and so far they have done just that. Kyle Gibson was just coming off the disabled list and the Sox smacked him around. Pulling away late was fun too. Eduardo Rodriguez looked like dog turds but kudos to the bullpen for slamming the door from the 6th inning on. Bogaerts and Pedroia are on fire despite the hitting streak ending and its nice to see Leon come out of the chute hot with Blake Swihart out for the near future. The other good news is the Baltimore Orioles lost to the Toronto Blue Jays so the Sox jumped back into a first place tie. The AL East is wide open this season and the Sox are hanging in there so far. The win improved the Sox to 36-25, tied for first place with the Orioles in the AL East. Tomorrow the Sox look for the sweep when they send "Slick" Rick Porcello (7-2, 4.04 ERA) to the mound against Pat Dean at 2:10 PM Eastern time at Target Field.
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