As for the game, the steamroller keeps chugging along as the juggernaut Red Sox once again took apart the Tampa Bay Rays. This time they took advantage of shoddy fielding and some qiestionable calls to put a 4 spot on the board in the first inning and hold on from there. David Price (13-6, 3.69 ERA) tossed 7 great innings and the Sox took down the Rays 5-2 at Fenway Park for their 88th win, tying the 1990 Red Sox for total wins....on August 18th.
The Sox got off to a wonderful start in the top of the first inning when Carlos Gomez hit a routine grounder to short but Xander Bogaerts turned and threw the ball completely out of Fenway Park for an error. Matt Duffy singled but Price got Jake Bauers to pop up to first. Tommy Pham looked at strike three and CJ Cron grounded back to the mound to end the inning. The Sox wasted no time pouncing on Tyler Glasnow in the bottom of the first inning. Mr. Mookie Betts whiffed but Andrew Benintendi doubled. Mitch Moreland followed with a double to score Benintendi to put the Sox on top. Moreland somehow stole third and Martinez walked. Somehow Martinez swiped second and Bogaerts walked to load the bases. Ian Kinsler walked to drive in a run before Brock "The Hitman" Holt hit a routine grounder to first. Bauers somehow overthrew Glasnow covering to score two runs. The Sox then looked like complete clowns when not only was Kinsler picked off trying to go to third but Holt tried to run to second and he got thrown out as well. It was a stupid ending to a successful inning that saw the Sox up 4-0.
Price settled down in the top of the second inning as Joey Wendle popped up to second to start. Willy Adames lined out to right and Kevin Kiermaier grounded out to second to end the inning. Glasnow recovered in the bottom of the second to strike out Sandy Leon to start. Jackie Bradley Jr whiffed and Mr. Mookie flied out to right to end the inning.
Price felt the concept of the Rays was offensive in the top of the third inning. He froze Michael Perez for strike three before Holt made a great play to snuff out a bunt attempt by Gomez. Price froze Duffy to end the inning. The Sox struck again in the bottom of the third as Benintendi popped up to second before Moreland waived at a 1-2 pitch in the dirt. Martinez then pounded his 38th home run of the year into the Red Sox bullpen to increase the lead. Bogaerts grounded out to third to end the inning but it was 5-0 Sox.
Could Price pitch with a five run lead in the top of the fourth? Bauers whiffed but Pham walked. Cron singled in the hole at short before Pham made a boo boo for Tampa. Wendle flied out to the left field wall but Pham ran all the way to third and was doubled off the second to end the inning and allow Price to escape. Kinsler damn near hit one out to begin the bottom of the fourth but it hooked foul, eventually flying out to center to start. Holt hit a rocket but right to Bauers before Leon grounded out to second to end the inning.
Price trudged to the mound for the top of the fifth and Adames was frozen for strike three. Kiermaier grounded out to short but Perez singled up the middle and Gomez was hit on the top of the hand. Price was on the ropes again but needed just one pitch to get Duffy to pop up to center to end the inning. JBJ didn't help the Sox by popping up to short on the first pitch of the bottom of the fifth. Mr. Mookie grounded out to third an Benintendi flied out to center to end the inning.
Price had a 5 run lead but suddenly couldn't find the plate in the top of the sixth as he walked Bauers to start. He went 3-2 on Pham before catching the outside corner for strike three. Sure enough, Cron took a cut fastball and swatted it 593,000 feet to put the Rays on the board. Wendle flied out to center and Adames grounded out to short but it was 5-2 Sox.
The Sox did nothing in the bottom of the sixth as Moreland lined out to center, Martinez grounded out to first and Bogaerts grounded out to second to end the inning.
Price returned for one more inning in the top of the seventh inning although Kiermaier greeted him with a double into the left field corner. Price recovered to freeze both Perez and Gomez before Duffy lined out to first to end the inning. It wasn't pretty but Price held the Rays to just 2 runs in 7 innings of work while striking out 8, good work!
Glasnow came back for the botom of the seventh and got Kinsler to fly out to left before Holt popped up to third. That was it for Glasnow as Rays manager Kevin Cash felt the kid did the best he could after the miserable first inning. Adam Kolarek came in and whiffed Leon to end the inning.
Ryan Brasier came on for the top of the eighth and got a gift when Bauers was called out on a bang bang play at first. The replay showed he was safe but the umpire called him out anyway. Brasier took the initiative to blow away Pham and Mr. Mookie had to run down a wind blown pop up by Cron to end the inning. JBJ hit a weak grounder to second to begin the bottom of the eighth before Mr. Mookie grounded out to short. Benintendi lashed a single to right but Moreland grounded into a force to end the inning.
Craig "The Buzzard" Kimbrel came in for the top of the ninth for the save and got Wendle to ground out to short to start. Kimbrel whiffed Adames on a curve before Kiermaier flied out to left to end the game. The Sox had won it 5-2.
Hero of the Night is David Price. The big lefty made just one mistake in 7 brilliant innings while striking out 8 guys to earn his 13th win of the season.
The Good:
Andrew Benintendi was 2 for 4 with a run scored.
JD Martinez was 1 for 2 with a walk, rbi, stolen base and 2 runs scored.
Ryan Brasier pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
Craig Kimbrel earned his 37th save of the season with a scoreless 9th inning.
The Bad:
Mookie Betts was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
Sandy Leon was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 0 for 3.
The Ugly:
Mitch Moreland was just 1 for 4 but drove in a run, stole a base and scored.
Xander Bogaerts was 0 for 2 with an error but walked and scored.
Ian Kinsler was 0 for 2 but walked and drove in a run.
Brock Holt was 0 for 3 but drove in a run.
Final Thoughts:
Another good win for the Red Sox as time is running out for the New York Yankees to catch them. Yankee fans have already resorted to the "you can't win in October" or "we don't need to win da division, we're gonna win da wild card den da division series den da pennant baybeeee!" insults. The Yankees are going to have to earn their playoff spot with a huge west coast trip at the beginning of September but play nothing but cream puffs until then. The Sox need to keep pace with the Yankees for the next two weeks if they want to go into September with a big lead. Price stepped up tonight with a big game and the shaky bullpen held it down nicely. The offense was nothing special but took advantage of mistakes to score some runs. Sometimes its by any means necessary. The win improved the Sox to 88-36, 10.5 games ahead of the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East. Due to the injury to Sale, it'll be Hector "The Insurance Policy" Velazquez going for the Sox tomorrow afternoon against the Tampa Bay bullpen. Yes its another one of those damn "bullpen games" for Tampa since they're so cheap they can't go out and get someone off the scrap heap or trade a single A prospect for an AAA starter. Either way the game begins at 1:05 PM at Fenway Park.
No comments:
Post a Comment