Thursday, May 30, 2024

Tigers Blank Lifeless Sox (5/30/24)

Before the game the Boston Red Sox honored their Hall of Fame Class of 2024 which included Trot Nixon. Dustin Pedroia, Elaine Steward and Jonathan Papelbon. The only bright spot to the day was honoring those that helped bring  the 2004 and 2007 World Series championships to Boston.
                                                          Back when the Sox were winners

As for this game, the fact that winners were honored was intentional to mask the fact this year's team is a bunch of losers. The Sox fell under .500 again as they were shut out by the equally mediocre Detroit Tigers. Nick Pivetta (2-4, 4.08 ERA) was yanked in the sixth inning after allowing 2 runs but the Sox bats failed to pick him up. Jack Flaherty pitched 6 2/3 shutout innings against the Sox with the kill shot coming in the eighth against the normally reliable Chris Martin. Riley Greene hit a 2 run bomb then two batters later Gio Urshela went yard to ice the game. The Tigers blanked the hapless Red Sox 5-0 at Fenway Park. How many runs did the Sox score Dean Wormer?

Pivetta got the ball in the top of the first inning and Matt Vierling walked to start. Riley Greene forced Matt at second and Matt Canha struck out swinging. Gio Urshela struck out swinging to end the inning. Flaherty got the ball in the bottom of the first inning and Jarren Duran flied out to right to start. Wilyer Abreu struck out swinging and Rob Refsnyder grounded out to short to end the inning.

Colt Keith took strike three to start the top of the second before Akil Baddoo took strike three. Spencer Torkelson struck out swinging to end the inning. Rafael Devers lined out to right to start the bottom of the second before Connor Wong took strike three. Garrett Cooper flied out to right to end the inning,

Javier Baez went down hacking to start the top of the third before Carson Kelly struck out swinging. Vierling also swung at air to end the inning. The eight straight K's tied a Sox record held by Roger Clemens. Reese McGuire struck out swinging to start the bottom of the third before Vaughn Grissom grounded out to third. David Hamilton grounded out to second to end the inning.

Greene grounded out to second to start the top of the fourth and Canha did the same. Urshela flied out to right to end the inning. Duran struck out swinging to start the bottom of the fourth before Abreu grounded out to second. Refsnyder struck out swinging to end the inning.

The Tigers went up for good in the top of the fifth although Keith flied out to center to start. Baddoo then hit his first home run of the season to end the game right then and there. Torkelson grounded out to short and Baez struck out swinging to end the inning with the Tigers up 1-0.
                                                       Tigers take the lead

Devers walked to start the bottom of the fifth but Wong struck out swinging. Cooper struck out swinging and McGuire grounded out to second to end the inning.

The Tigers struck back in the top of the sixth as Kelly tripled into the right field corner to start. Vierling flied out to right but Greene was intentionally walked. Canha drilled a base hit to center to score Kelly and chase Pivetta. Normally 5 1/3 innings and 2 runs allowed would be a good thing but Nick got no run support. Greg Weissert came in and got Urshela to ground into a double play to end the inning with the Tigers up 2-0.
                                                     Pivetta deserved better

Grissom grounded out to short to start the bottom of the sixth before Hamilton flied out to center. Duran took strike three to end the inning.

Cam Booser came in to pitch the top of the seventh and Keith got a base hit to right to start. Baddoo struck out swinging, Torkelson went down hacking and Baez lined out to left to end the inning. Abreu struck out swinging to open the bottom of the seventh before Refsnyder got a base hit to left to break up the no-hitter. Devers flied out to right and that was it for Flaherty after 6 1/3 no-hit innings. Alex Faedo got Wong to ground into a force to end the inning.

Chris Martin came in to vomit up his intestines in the top of the eighth as Kelly grounded out to third to start. Vierling doubled to left and Greene hit a home run all the way to the moon. Canha struck out swinging but Urshela then hit a home run all the way to Mercury to increase the lead. Badoo struck out swinging to end the inning with the Tigers up 5-0.
                                                      Tigers turn this into a laugher

Enmanuel Valdez pinch hit for Cooper and took strike three to start the bottom of the eighth but McGuire got a base hit to left. Dominic Smith pinch hit for Grissom and flied out to center. Tyler Holton came in to face pinch hitter Romy Gonzalez, and Gonzalez grounded back to the mound to end the inning.

Chase Anderson came in to pitch the top of the ninth and Torkelson struck out swinging to start. Valdez booted a grounder by Baez for an error but Kelly flied out to center. Vierling grounded out to short to end the inning. Duran reached on an error by Baez to start the bottom of the ninth and Ceddanne Rafaela pinch hit for Abreu. Rafaela struck out swinging and Refsnyder grounded out to second to move Duran to second. Duran took third on defensive indifference but Devers struck out swinging to end the game. The Tigers had won it 5-0.
                                                                   Tigers win

Jackass of The Night is Chris Martin. He gave up 3 runs including two home runs to put the game out of reach.
                                                     Nice going, you Jackass



The Good:

Reese McGuire was 1 for 3.

Greg Weissert got the final two outs of the sixth inning.

Cam Booser tossed a scoreless seventh inning.

Chase Anderson pitched a scoreless ninth inning.



The Bad:

Jarren Duran was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.

Wilyer Abreu was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts.

Ceddanne Rafaela struck out as a pinch hitter.

Connor Wong was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts.

Garrett Cooper was 0 for 2 with a strikeout.

Enmanuel Valdez struck out and committed an error.

Vaughn Grissom was 0 for 2.

Dominic Smith was 0 for 1.

David Hamilton was 0 for 2.

Romy Gonzalez was 0 for 1.



The Ugly:

Rob Refsnyder was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout.

Rafael Devers was 0 for 3 with a strikeout but walked.

Nick Pivetta took the loss but only allowed 2 runs in 5 1/3 innings allowing 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 9.




Final Thoughts:

Fans are beyond frustrated at this point with the Red Sox and who can blame them? Their offense has been AWFUL for pretty much all season and they were damn near no-hit in this one. Pivetta didn't even pitch bad and it didn't matter because the offense didn't score any runs. Flaherty pitched a great game and the biggest difference was Chris Martin's meltdown in the eighth inning. Not that the Sox bats were doing anything but 2-0 is a lot easier to overcome than 5-0. The Sox entire offense was 2 hits and a walk while Riley Greene alone had a hit, a walk, 2 rbis and a run scored by himself. Fans can't wait for this season to end and we're not even out of May yet. Nobody expects the Sox to win the division or anything, they just want them to be competitive. Their offense simply hasn't been competitive this season due to injuries and incompetence. There's still 105 games left in the season too, oh joy. The loss dropped the Sox to 28-29, 10.5 games behind the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East. The Sox look to bounce back tomorrow when Tanner Houck goes for the Sox against Kenta Maeda of the Tigers. The game begins at 7:10 PM at Fenway Park.

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