As for the game, the Sox honored the retired Ortiz by busting out of their slump to tag the Los Angeles Angels 9-4 in front of a raucous Fenway Park crowd. Rick Porcello (4-9, 5.00 ERA) finally pitched well to earn the win. Dustin Pedroia who was coughing up blood Monday DEMANDED to play today and he did.....mostly due to Josh Rutledge out with a bad hip but no matter.
Porcello got the ball in the top of the first inning and Cameron Maybin flied out to Mr. Mookie Betts to begin the game. Kole Calhoun singled to the Monster but Andrew Benintendi gunned him down at second trying to stretch a double. Albert Pujols whiffed to end the inning. The Sox wasted no time scoring in the bottom of the first off starter Alex Meyer. Mr. Mookie worked a walk and swiped second. The returning Pedroia worked a walk before Xander Bogaerts doubled to the wall to score Betts and advance Pedroia to third. A wild pitch scored Pedroia and moved Bogaerts to third as Mitch Moreland (who went 2 for 22 on the road trip with his fractured toe) froze on strike 3 on the inside corner. ANOTHER wild pitch scored Bogaerts to increase the lead. Benny The Kid flied out to center and Hanley Ramirez whiffed to end the inning but it was 3-0 Red Sox.
Porcello stayed strong in the top of the second as he froze Yunel Escobar to begin the inning. Luis Valbuena grounded to short but Andrelton Simmons singled. Ben Revere walked but Porcello whiffed Martin Maldonado to end the inning. Meyer settled down in the bottom of the second although Jackie Bradley Jr was robbed of a hit on a liner to short. Sandy Leon hit an easy grounder to third and Deven Marrero struck out to end the inning.
Porcello began painting in the top of the third inning. He froze Cliff Pennington with a 2 seam fastball on the inside corner before Maybin lined out to a hustling Benny The Kid. Porcello got a gift strike three call against Calhoun to end the inning. Meyer dominated the bottom of the third inning as Mr. Mookie grounded out to third, Pedroia grounded out to short and Bogaerts lined out to a leaping Revere to end the inning.
Porcello began the top of the fourth by giving up a rocket into the gap off the bat of Pujols but he's slow as molasses so he stopped at second with a double. Someone like Jacoby Ellsbury could have had an inside the park home run where the ball was hit. Porcello recovered to strike out both Escobar and Valbuena. Simmons singled to left and for some reason Benny The Kid threw home even though the slow footed Pujols didn't even think about trying for home. Leon had no idea the ball was coming as he had stop to whistle the Andy Griffith theme with someone behind the home plate seats and it bounced off his back. Pujols waddled home for the run and the error was charged to Leon, brutal. Sox analyst Dave O'Brien brought up ho Revere wrote Pray For Boston the night of the Marathon bombings to win Ben some brownie points. Revere lined out to Bogaerts who for some reason made a mad dash, diving on second base for an unnecessary force out since there were already two outs. All this nonsense led to the Angels now down 3-1. 1st base coach Ruben Amaro Jr gave the team an earful in the dugout during the half inning break.
The Sox struck again in the bottom of the fourth although Moreland extended his slump to 0-18 when he struck a line drive right to Calhoun. Benny The Kid made up for his bad throw by poking a double down the right field line and Ramirez hit a piece of crap home run right around the Pesky Pole to increase the lead. JBJ singled down the right field line and moved to third on a hit and run single by Leon to chase Meyer. Eduardo Parades replaced Meyer and Marrero tried a safety squeeze but it was right back to the pitcher, JBJ was out at home. Mr. Mookie grounded out to end the inning but it was 5-1 Red Sox.
Porcello cruised in the top of the fifth inning. He froze Maldonado for his 8th strikeout of the night. Pennington flied out to left and Marrero made a great play to nail Maybin at first for the third out. The Sox failed to score in the bottom of the fifth. Pedroia grounded out to third but Bogaerts poked a single to left. Bogaerts then forgot what year it was as Moreland hit a double play ball and Xander cleaned out the second basemen. The new rules state that its an automatic double play and that's what was called. 150 years of major league baseball out the window because some little all-star gets hurt on a takeout slide. Ridiculous.
Porcello returned for the top of the sixth inning and Calhoun hit one up the elevator shaft to begin. Pujols lined out but Escobar doubled down the left field line. Rick recovered to get Valbuena on a broken bat line drive to Pedroia to end the inning. Porcello had thrown 6 innings of 1 run ball, much improved from his last start.
The Sox tacked it on in the bottom of the sixth inning. Benny The Kid grounded out to second and Ramirez grounded out to first. JBJ drew a walk and Leon crushed a 2 run home run into the Red Sox bullpen to give the team some breathing room. Marrero whiffed to end the inning but it was now 7-1.
With 91 pitches on his arm, Porcello returned for the top of the seventh and at first it looked like a good move when he got Simmons to pop up on the first pitch. Then the wheels fell off as Revere hit a ground ball to third base that got by both Marrero AND Benintendi who took a wrong turn and Revere made it to second with a double. Maldonado then blasted one JUST over the head of JBJ in the triangle for a triple to score Revere. The throw was so bad by JBJ that Marrero had to dive just to catch it otherwise it could have been an inside the park home run. Instead of Sox manager John Farrell coming out to get Porcello, Carl Willis the pitching coach sprinted to the mound as fast as he could to inform Rick that the Boston Bruins drafted Urho Vaakanainen with their first round draft pick. Obviously that key piece of information motivated Rick to get the hell off the field as Pennington doubled into the triangle to score Maldonado. FINALLY, Farrell made the pitching change one batter too late. Still, Porcello did his job and finally got some run support.
Heath Hembree came in and got Maybin to ground out but Benny The Kid dove and missed on a line drive by Calhoun, scoring Pennington and advancing Kole to second. Just like that it was 7-4. Hembree recovered to strike out Pujols to end the inning still up by 3. Huston Street magically appeared out of nowhere to pitch the bottom of the 7th inning. Mr. Mookie was so excited that Chopped was on TV in the dugout that he lined out to left quickly to get back in there to watch. Pedroia grounded out to third and Bogaerts took strike three to end the inning.
Joe "Machine Gun" Kelly got the call to pitch the top of the eighth inning as analyst Jerry Remy asked Dave O'Brien what the difference was in the ballpark tonight. Escobar singled to right as O'Brien admitted he was stumped. NESN showed a panoramic view of Fenway as Remy claims he noticed it early in the game. The guys in the truck couldn't figure it out as Remy revealed that the left field scoreboard had new lights installed. Wow, O'Brien....I've seen better detective work on Blues Clues, With the new lights flashing brighter than ever before, Kelly was inspired to get Simmons to bang into a double play to end the inning. The Sox wrapped up the scoring in the bottom of the eighth as Moreland broke his slump with an opposite field single. Benny The Kid whiffed and Ramirez flied out but JBJ hit a chopper over the head of Escobar for a base hit. Leon iced the game with a double down the left field line that scored Moreland easily. JBJ motored around and the throw home.......SAFE! JBJ was safe as Leon took third on the throw. Angels manager Mike Scoscia with nothing to lose challenged the safe call at home. The umps held up the call and it was 9-4 Boston. Marrero lined out to end the inning but the game was broken open.
Blaine Boyer had mop up duty in the top of the ninth inning. Revere was out on a bang bang play at first base and Maldonado whiffed. Pennington popped to short and that was it. The Sox had taken the game 9-4.
Hero of the Night is Sandy Leon.
The Good:
Xander Bogaerts was 2 for 4 with an rbi and a run scored.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 2 for 3 with a walk and 2 runs scored.
Rick Porcello earned his 4th win of the year by tossing 6 1/3 innings of 3 earned run ball while striking out 8.
Joe Kelly pitched a scoreless 8th inning.
Blaine Boyer pitched a scoreless 9th inning.
The Bad:
Deven Marrero was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
The Ugly:
Mookie Betts was 0 for 3 but walked, stole a base and scored a run.
Dustin Pedroia was 0 for 3 but walked and scored a run.
Mitch Moreland was 1 for 4 with a run scored.
Andrew Benintendi was 1 for 4 with a run scored.
Hanley Ramirez was just 1 for 4 but made it count as it was a 2 run home run, his 10th.
Heath Hembree allowed an inherited runner to score but allowed no further damage in the 7th.
Final Thoughts:
The Red Sox should retire numbers more often if it means waking up this normally dormant offense. Roger Clemens 21 and Tony Conigliaro's 25 are unused so may as well retire those to spark the offense. Hell Darryl Irvine's #59 isn't being used so may as well retire that too. Have a big gigantic ceremony honoring the life and times of Darryl Irvine before tomorrow's game against the Angels. He can come out and wave to the confused crowd while Dustin Pedroia stands on the top step of the dugout going "Are you (censored) kidding me?" In all seriousness it was great to see the offense wake up for once, even if it was motivated by Big Papi. Porcello continues to struggle in the later innings when going 7 was no sweat last year. The win improved the Sox to 41-32 on the season, percentage points ahead of the victorious New York Yankees for first place in the AL East. Tomorrow night the immortal JC Ramirez goes against David Price (2-1) in Game 2 of this 3 game set as the Sox have a chance to once again be 10 games over .500.
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