The A's wasted no time pouncing on Clay Buchholz (2-3, 5.90 ERA). Old friends Coco Crisp walked and Jed Lowrie doubled. Josh Reddick grounded out to score Crisp to make it 1-0 Oakland. Khris Davis lined out to right and Stephen Voght lined out to Travis Shaw to end the inning. Oakland Ace Sonny Gray took the mound and had zero trouble. Mr. Mookie Betts flied out and Dustin Pedroia lined out. Xander Bogaerts singled but David Ortiz' line drive was snared for the final out of the inning.
The A's pounded Buchholz in the top of the second as another old friend Danny Valencia ate up Pedroia at second and reached at first, but hurt himself. Yonder Alonso doubled Valencia to third. Josh Phegley grounded out which scored Valencia to make it 2-0. Marcus Semien lined out but Crisp singled home Alonso to make it 3-0 as the boo-birds rained down on Clay. Lowrie whiffed to end the inning. The Sox tried to fight back in the bottom of the second. Hanley Ramirez flied out to deep right but Travis Shaw doubled. Brock Holt moved Shaw to third with a groundout as a wild pitch by Gray scored Shaw to make it 3-1. Jackie Bradley Jr grounded out to end the inning.
The A's continued to tack it on in the top of the third. Shaw ran from first all the way to center to catch a pop up by Reddick, but Davis blasted a solo shot into the monster seats to make it 4-1. Voght flied out and Chris Coghlan pinch hit for the injured Valencia then grounded out to first to end the inning. Manny Alexander pinch ran for Nomar as Albie Lopez replaced Hernandez on the mound. Nixon grounded into a force to end the inning. Once again the Sox tried to fight back as Christian Vazquez walked. Betts bounced a tailor made double play ball to Coghlan but he bobbled it and was only able to get Mookie at first. Pedroia grounded out to short which failed to advance the runner. Bogaerts whiffed to end the inning.
Buchholz came out for the top of the fourth for another beating. Alonso doubled but Phegley lined out to Shaw. Alonso was thrown out at third on the ground ball by Semien. Crisp lined out to end the inning. The Sox offense exploded in the bottom of the fourth. Ortiz doubled and Ramirez singled David over to third. Shaw doubled home Ortiz and advanced Ramirez to third to cut the lead 4-2. Holt whiffed but JBJ singled home both runners to tie the game. Vazquez grounded out which moved JBJ to second and Mr. Mookie doubled home JBJ to give the Sox their first lead 5-4. Make it 6-4 as Pedroia singled home Betts. A wild pitch by Gray moved Dustin to second and Bogaerts walked to chase Gray. Fernando Rodrigues came on to pitch for the A's. Ortiz started the inning with a double and he hit another one that scored Pedroia plus advance Bogaerts to third to make it 7-4. Ramirez whiffed to end the inning but just like that the Sox scored 6 runs.
Could Buchholz go one more inning with the lead? Lowrie grounded out but Reddick walked. Davis flied out and Voght struck out to end the inning. At 87 pitches, Buchholz may have been able to go 6. The Sox continued to tack on in the bottom of the inning. Shaw singled and Holt smashed a line drive home run to right to give the Sox a 9-4 lead. Holt hit 2 home runs total last year, that was his third this year. JBJ singled but Vazquez struck out. Mr. Mookie flied out and Pedroia struck out to end the inning.
Instead of throw Buchholz out for another inning, Sox manager John Farrell decided to let his bullpen get some work in. Tommy Layne was first out of the chute in the top of the sixth. Coghlan grounded out to first, Alonso looked at strike 3 and Phegley whiffed to end the inning. John Axford came on for the bottom of the sixth and allowed an infield single by Bogaerts. Ortiz lined out but Ramirez walked. Shaw struck out but Holt walked. The smoking hot JBJ then hit one deep to right...INTO THE BULLPEN FOR A GRAND SLAM! Just like that it was 13-4. Vazquez struck out to end the inning. JBJ is on fire.
Carson Smith came on for the top of the seventh for no reason other than to get some work in. Josh "Razor" Rutledge replaced Pedroia in the batting order but was at third base. Holt moved from left field to second base, Shaw moved to first base and Chris Young replaced Ramirez in the batting order but was in left field. Got all that? Semien struck out but Crisp walked. Lowrie moved Crisp over to second with a ground out and Reddick lofted a lazy fly ball to JBJ, routine out right? WRONG! JBJ muffed it and Crisp came around to score to make it 13-5. Thanks a lot Jackie. Davis flied out to end the inning.
The Sox wouldn't let up in the bottom of the seventh. Billy Butler came into the game to play first, Coghlan moved to second base and Alonso moved to third. Former Sox prospect JB Wendelken (traded for Jake Peavy) came in to pitch. Mr. Mookie grounded out but Razor Rutledge walked. A wild pitch moved Razor to second and a Bogaerts fly out moved Razor to third. Ortiz then hit a pop up 10 feet on the infield....and Phegley let it drop for a run scoring single to make it 14-5. Nice one Phegley. Chris Young flied out to end the inning.
Heath Hembree came on to pitch the top of the eighth. Voght and Coghlan hit back to back singles and Alonso flied out, moving Voght to third. Phegley grounded into a double play to end the inning. A's closer Sean Doolittle was brought in to pitch the bottom of the eighth just to get some work in. Shaw whiffed, Holt grounded out and JBJ whiffed to end the inning.
Hembree returned for the top of the ninth and got blasted. Semien flied out but Crisp doubled. Butler lined out but Reddick singled to score Crisp. Reddick took second on defensive indifference and Davis doubled him home. Voght struck out to end the game. The Sox had won by a touchdown 14-7.
Hero of the night is Jackie Bradley Jr. He was 3 for 5 with 6 total rbi's with 2 runs scored and a grand slam.
The Good:
Josh Rutledge walked in his only appearance and scored. Xander Bogaerts was 2 for 4 with a walk and a home run. David Ortiz was 3 for 5 with a run scored and 2 rbi's. Hanley Ramirez was 1 for 3 with a walk and 2 runs scored. Travis Shaw was 3 for 5 with an rbi and 3 runs scored. Tommy Layne pitched a scoreless 6th inning.
The Bad:
Chris Young was 0 for 1 in his only plate appearance.
The Ugly:
Mookie Betts was just 1 for 5 with a run scored and an rbi. Dustin Pedroia was just 1 for 4 with a run scored and rbi. Brock Holt was just 1 for 4 but walked, scored twice and made the hit count as it was a 2 run home run. Christian Vazquez was 0 for 3 with a walk. Clay Buchholz got the win but only lasted 5 innings and gave up 4 runs. His ERA is a hideous 5.90. Carson Smith allowed an unearned run in the 7th inning due to a Bradley Jr miscue. Heath Hembree gave up 2 runs in 2 innings of work.
Final Thoughts:
The offense is on fire right now. Its a good thing too because David Price and Buchholz are struggling and it doesn't matter who the fifth starter is (Henry Owens, Joe Kelly, etc) because they get hammered too. This kind of output won't last but until Eduardo Rodriguez comes back, the offense and the bullpen is going to have to carry the load. Sonny Gray is having an off-year so far but the Sox still knocked him six ways from Sunday. They're going to need the offense tomorrow night when Sean O'Sullivan makes his first start opposite Sean Manea. The win put the Sox at 19-13, percentage points behind Baltimore for first place in the AL East.
No comments:
Post a Comment