Before the game the Boston Red Sox got even more bad news. Brayan Bello was placed on the Injured List with a strained lat muscle and becomes the next member of the team to be knocked out. Zack Kelly was called up to take his place and now the Sox are down 4/5's of their intended starting rotation. Lucas Giolito, Nick Pivetta, Garrett Whitlock and now Bello are gone. The rumor is Pivetta may not be as injured as initially feared and lat/obliques take a few weeks to heal so they may get all three of them back by the middle of May. No idea what they're going to do until then.
The bad news was the Boston Celtics lost Game 2 of their first round NBA playoff series but the good news was not only did the Boston Bruins defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 3 of their first round NHL playoff series but the Boston Red Sox finally defeated the Cleveland Guardians. The road warrior Sox have done it again. Facing a red hot Guardians team, the Sox shut them out due to the brilliant pitching of Cooper Criswell (1-1, 2.38 ERA), Joely Rodriguez and the returning Zack Kelly. The undermanned Sox also got big lifts from the returning Rafael Devers and big games from Wilyer Abreu and Connor Wong. Wong slugged two home runs while Abreu went 4 for 5 with an rbi. The Sox as a unit pounded out 16 hits and 8 runs while holding the Guardians scoreless the entire game. The Sox may be losing players on a daily basis but they won tonight's game 8-0 at Progressive Field.
The Sox jumped on Guardians starter Carlos Carrasco in the top of the first inning although Jarren Duran grounded out to first to start. Rafael Devers singled to center but Tyler O'Neill struck out swinging. Wilyer Abreu hit a double to left to score Devers and put the Sox on top. Enmanuel Valdez flied out to right to end the inning with the Sox up 1-0.
Criswell got the ball in the bottom of the first and Steven Kwan flied out to right to start. Andres Gimenez was hit with a pitch but Jose Ramirez flied out to right. Josh Naylor flied out to center to end the inning.
The Sox struck again in the top of the second as Connor Wong belted his fourth home run of the season to increase the lead. Pablo Reyes struck out swinging and Bobby Dalbec grounded out to first, but Ceddanne Rafaela doubled to left. Duran grounded out to second to end the inning with the Sox up 2-0.
Will Brennan flied out to center to start the bottom of the second before Tyler Freeman flied out to left. Estevan Florial got a base hit to right but Bo Naylor grounded out to second to end the inning.
Devers walked to start the top of the third but O'Neill banged into a double play. Abreu ripped a base hit to center and moved to second on a wild pitch, but Valdez grounded out to first to end the inning. Brayan Rocchio struck out swinging to start the bottom of the third but Kwan singled to left. Gimenez struck out swinging and Ramirez popped up to second to end the inning.
Wong was plunked to start the top of the fourth and moved to second on a passed ball. Reyes grounded out to short but Wong moved to third on a fly out to center by Dalbec. Rafaela grounded out to short to end the inning. Josh Naylor popped up to short to start the bottom of the fourth and Brennan flied out to center. Freeman grounded out to third to end the inning.
The Sox struck again in the top of the fifth although Duran took strike three to start. Devers pounded his third home run of the season to increase the lead but O'Neill flied out to center. Abreu singled to right but Valdez took strike three to end the inning with Boston up 3-0.
Florial took strike three to start the too of the fifth but Bo Naylor singled to center. Rocchio banged into a double play to end the inning. That was it for Criswell as he did the best he could, throwing 5 innings of shutout ball while allowing just 3 hits.
Criswell gets it done
That's two for Wong
The Sox struck again in the top of the sixth as Wong blasted his second home run of the game to increase the lead. Reyes singled to left and that was it for Carrasco. Tyler Beede came in to face Dalbec and Reyes promptly stole second. Dalbec struck out swinging but Rafaela ripped a base hit to left. Reyes came around to score and Rafaela took second on the throw. Ceddanne stole third but Duran grounded out to first. Devers pounded a ground rule double down the left field line to score Rafaela but O'Neill struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox ahead 6-0.
Joely Rodriguez came in to pitch the bottom of the sixth and Kwan grounded out to third to start. Gimenez struck out swinging but Ramirez hit a ground rule double to left. Ramirez stole third but Josh Naylor grounded out to first to end the inning.
Pedro Avila came in to pitch the top of the seventh and Abreu grounded out to first to start. Valdez grounded out to first but Wong singled to right. Reyes flied out to center to end the inning. Brennan grounded out to short to start the bottom of the seventh before Freeman lined out to third. Florial grounded out to second to end the inning.
Dalbec singled off the glove of Rocchio to start the top of the eighth but was forced at second by Brennan when Rafaela's line drive fell in. Duran and Devers both struck out swinging to end the inning. Zack Kelly made his season debut in the bottom of the eighth and Bo Naylor struck out swinging to start. Rocchio grounded out to second and Kwan beat out an infield single to short....but wait! Sox manager Alex Cora challenged that Kwan was out and sure enough, he was out to end the inning.
O'Neill singled to center to start the top of the ninth and Abreu doubled to left. Valdez scored Tyler with a sac fly and Wong got a base hit to left to score Abreu but Reyes lined out to left. Wong took second on a wild pitch but Dalbec grounded out to third to end the inning with the Sox up 8-0.
Kelly returned to close out the bottom of the ninth and Gimenez struck out swinging to start. Ramirez also went down hacking and Josh Naylor grounded out to short to end the game. The Sox had won it 8-0.
Hero of The Night is Connor Wong. He hit two home runs, went 4 for 4 and drove in 3 total runs.
The Good:
Rafael Devers was 3 for 4 with a walk, a home run, 2 total rbis and 2 total runs scored.
Wilyer Abreu was 4 for 5 with an rbi.
Ceddanne Rafaela was 2 for 4 with a stolen base, rbi and a run scored.
Cooper Criswell got the win by tossing 5 shutout innings. He allowed 3 hits and struck out 3 batters.
Joely Rodriguez tossed 2 scoreless innings.
Zack Kelly tossed 2 scoreless innings.
The Bad:
Jarren Duran was 0 for 5 with 2 strikeouts.
The Ugly:
Tyler O'Neill was just 1 for 5 with 2 strikeouts but scored a run.
Enmanuel Valdez was 0 for 4 with a strikeout but drove in a run.
Pablo Reyes was just 1 for 5 with a strikeout but stole a base and scored a run.
Bobby Dalbec was just 1 for 5 with a strikeout.
Final Thoughts:
A 16 hit Boston attack is just what the doctor ordered. Abreu and Wong have been hot lately and they definitely carried the load in this one. Devers made a triumphant return but the real story was the pitching. Criswell and Kelly started the year in Worcester and tossed a combined 7 shutout innings in this one. The other two were provided by the much maligned Joely Rodriguez. Offensively the Sox have been struggling big time but getting to Carrasco early set the pace. Even Rafaela got a couple of hits and that's encouraging considering the Sox are going to be without Triston Casas and Trevor Story pretty much the rest of the season. Losing Brayan Bello is going to hurt long term but for now the Sox got it done. The Sox look to take the rubber game of the series tomorrow afternoon when Triston McKenzie goes for Cleveland against Captain TBD of the Red Sox. The game begins at 1:10 PM at Progressive Field.
No comments:
Post a Comment