Jose Altuve singled to lead off the game just like last night. George Springer grounded back to Wright, advancing Altuve to second. Carlos Correa looked at strike 3 even though Correa didn't think so. It was a strike, Ryan "Hot Hands" Hanigan just dropped it. Colby Rasmus hit one in the hole at short to reach on a base hit, but Xander Bogaerts cutting the ball off saved a run. It only delayed the inevitable as Marwin Gonzalez singled up the middle to give the Astros a 1-0 lead. Luis Valbuena flied out to end the inning. Could Lance McCullers making his season debut silence the Sox? Mr. Mookie Betts grounded out to short and Dustin Pedroia looked at strike 3, but Xander Bogerts extended his hit streak to 8 games with a bloop to right. David Ortiz whiffed to end the inning.
Carlos Gomez led off the top of the second inning by popping up. Jason Castro hit a hard one to left but Brock Holt ran it down for the second out. Jake Marisnick grounded out to third to end the inning. Hanley Ramirez singled through the hole at second and Travis Shaw walked to begin the bottom of the second. Hitman Holt worked an 8 pitch walk to load the bases. Hot Hands Hanigan then doubled in both Ramirez and Shaw to give the Sox a 2-1 lead just like that. Jackie Bradley Jr extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a double to score Holt to make it 3-1. Houston's misery continued when a pitch from McCullers squirted right under Castro to score Hanigan and advance JBJ to third. Mr. Mookie singled home JBJ to make it 5-1. Pedroia lined out to right for the first out. Bogaerts then banged into a double play to end the inning.
Could Wright hold off the Astros long enough to make it an official game? Not at first in the top of the second inning. Altuve continued to be a pain in the ass by working a walk.and Springer singled him to third with a shot off the monster. The Sox defense pitched in when Pedroia snared a liner by Correa and doubled off Springer at first. Rasmus then looked at strike 3 to end the inning. Ortiz grounded weakly to first to begin the bottom of the third. Ramirez was also thrown out at first on a swinging bunt. Shaw singled off the monster but was thrown out at second trying to stretch.
Gonzalez popped up to left to begin the top of the fourth inning. Valbuena grounded out to Ramirez as the rain picked up. Gomez whiffed to end the inning. Now the race was on to make this an official game. Holt grounded out to Altuve to begin the bottom of the fourth. Hanigan struck out and so did JBJ to end the inning.
The Astros bashed Wright into submission to begin the top of the fifth. Castro doubled off the monster, Marisnick reached on a bunt single, Altuve singled to score Castro and Springer doubled home the two runners to make it 5-4 just like that. Correa walked and Ramus advanced both runners with a ground out. Gonzalez slammed a single to score Springer, advance Correa to third and to chase Wright. Starting a knuckleballer in the rain is risky, but you can't control mother nature. Matt Barnes came in and got Valbuena to pop up. Gonzalez swiped second but Gomez whiffed to end the inning. Good work by Barnes to keep the game tied. The Sox offense continued to remain quiet as Mr. Mookie flied out, Pedroia popped up and the monster stole a home run from Bogaets, he had to settle for a double. Ortiz was intentionally walked and that was it for McCullers. Scott Feldman was first out of the pen for Houston and he got Ramirez to ground into a force to end the inning.
It was now a battle of the bullpens and the Astros teed off on Barnes in the top of the 6th. Castro singled but Marisnick whiffed. Altuve was finally retired on a pop up but Springer bashed a 2 run home run into the monster seats to give the Astros a 7-5 lead. That was it for Barnes as Robbie Ross Jr took over. Rasmus lined out to end the inning. The Sox struck back in the bottom of the sixth. Travis Shaw cut the deficit with a solo blast to make it 7-6. Holt lined out and Hanigan grounded out, but JBJ singled. With the tying run on....Mr. Mookie flied out to end the inning.
Ross remained tough in the top of the 7th. Gonzalez and Valbuena struck out and Gomez flied out to end the inning. The Sox tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh as Pedroia legged out an infield single, but Bogaerts struck out. Terry Sipp was brought in to pitch to Ortiz, who flied out. Ken Giles replaced Sipp to pitch to Ramirez. Ramirez walked but Shaw grounded out to end the inning, the Astros kept the lead.
Koji Uehara came on to pitch the top of the eighth. Castro struck out and Marisnick flied out, but Altuve doubled. Springer struck out to end the inning. Will Harris locked it down in the bottom of the eighth. Holt looked at strike 3, Hanigan whiffed but JBJ continued his hot streak with a base hit. Mr. Mookie struck out to end the inning.
Craig "The Buzzard" Kimbrel took the mound in the top of the ninth and struggled. Correa struck out but Rasmus walked. Gonzalez flied out but Rasmus stole second. Valbuena walked but Gomez whiffed to end the inning. Having your closer coming in to a non-save situation and throwing 26 pitches isn't exactly a recipe for success. Luke Gregerson came on for the save in the bottom of the ninth. Pedroia and Bogaerts whiffed and Ortiz flied out to end the game. The Astros had fought back to win 7-6.
Jackass of the Night is Matt Barnes. He allowed the go-ahead 2 run blast to George Springer.
The Good:
Xander Bogaerts was 2 for 5. Hanley Ramirez was 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored. Travis Shaw was 2 for 3 with a home run (rbi), 2 runs scored and a walk. Jackie Bradley Jr was 3 for 4 with a run scored and an rbi. Robbie Ross Jr pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Koji Uehara pitched a scoreless 8th inning. Craig Kimbrel pitched a scoreless 9th inning
The Bad:
Steven Wright was forced to pitch in the pouring rain and for four innings he held his own, but was wiped out in the fifth. He went just 4 1/3 innings giving up 5 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks while only striking out 3.
The Ugly:
Mookie Betts was just 1 for 5 with an rbi. Dustin Pedroia was just 1 for 5. David Ortiz was 0 for 4 but walked. Brock Holt was 0 for 3 but walked and scored. Ryan Hanigan was 1 for 4 but scored a run and drove in 2. Steven Wright was forced to pitch in the pouring rain and for four innings he held his own, but was wiped out in the fifth. He went 4 1/3 innings giving up 5 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks while only striking out 3.
Final Thoughts:
The streak had to end sometime and unfortunately blowing a 4 run lead was the way to do it. The most alarming thing is that the Sox are 0-13 when trailing after 8 innings. Not a single walkoff yet. I love the double digit run games as much as anyone, but the good teams in the franchise history have been able to come from behind in the later innings. The 2003, 2004 and especially the 2013 Red Sox all came back time and time again for walkoff wins. Still, I'm not too worried about Wright's misfire. Pitching in the pouring rain is a death knell for knukleballer so this was pretty much expected. After all, it was almost 17 years to the day (May 10,2000) that Tim Wakefield pitched in a torrential downpour and got lit up for 3 runs on 4 hits in just 1/3 of an inning. It would have been nice for Matt Barnes not to give up tape measure blasts but fastballers are prone to that. The loss knocked the Sox to 22-14, a game behind the Baltimore Orioles (6 wins in a row) for first place in the AL East.
No comments:
Post a Comment