Dustin Pedroia led the game off with a weak ground ball back to Happ. Xander Bogaerts hit a rocket...right to shortstop Troy Tulowitzky. David Ortiz swung at the first pitch and grounded out to first. Eduardo Rodriguez got the ball to start the bottom of the first. Devon Travis hit a lucky bloop in between Bogaerts and the left fielder Chris Young for a single. Rodriguez then got the 3 best hitters with a little help from his defense. Josh Donaldson popped up then Edwin Encarnarcion lined one off the leg of Rodriguez...over to third basemen Aaron Hill who threw him out. The trainers came out but Eddy shooed them away. Jose Bautista flied out to right to end the inning.
Mr. Mookie Betts led off the top of the second with a full count walk. Betts swiped second as Hanley Ramirez was rung up for strike 3. Hill popped up but Young was hit on the foot. Jackie Bradley Jr swung and missed at three straight pitches to end the inning. The Jays struck first in the bottom of the second. Russell Martin worked a leadoff walk but Tulowitzky popped up. Melvin Upton then jacked a 2 run shot to left to give the Jays a 2-0 lead. Betts nearly made an outstanding catch but it fell out of his glove. Rodriguez punched out Smoak anyway. Kevin Pillar also whiffed to end the inning but the damage was done.
Ryan Hanigan grounded out to second to begin the top of the third. Pedroia lined out to short and Bogaerts whiffed to end the inning. The Jays struck again in the bottom of the third. Travis smoked a leadoff double and Bogaerts mades a head up play on a ground ball by Donaldson to go to third. Initially Travis was called safe but the replay overturned the call and Travis was out. Encarnarcion then lined a double play ball to Hill, but he booted it and Donaldson ran all the way to third. Bautista hit a little flare over the head of Bogarts to score Donaldson to make it 3-0. Rodriguez recovered to strike out Martin after falling behind 3-2. He whiffed Tulowitzky as well but it was now 3-0.
3-0 may as well have been 30-0 with the way Happ was pitching. Ortiz grounded out into the shift and Mr. Mookie hit a line drive...that hung up and was caught for an out. That was the clue it was not Boston's day. Ramirez popped up to end the inning. Happ had not allowed a hit through four. Rodriguez showed some balls in the bottom of the fourth. Upton walked to start and he easily swiped second. Rodriguez recovered as Smoak flied out to left, Pillar struck out and Travis flied out to end the inning.
Happ continued to remain red hot in the top of the fifth. Hill whiffed but Young got the first hit of the game. He also made a heads up play when a ground ball by JBJ was hit to Smoak. Rather than go to second he raced back to first to confuse Smoak into touching the bag. That meant Bradley was out but since he never tagged Chris, Young was safe. It didn't matter anyway as Hanigan whiffed on a 3-2 count to end the inning. At least they broke up the no-hitter. Things got chippy to begin the bottom of the fifth when Rodriguez knocked down Donaldson on a pitch up in his eyes. It wasn't intentional but Donaldson didn't like it ayway. He grounded out to short anyway. Rodriguez made a nice pick on a ground ball by Encarnarcion to retire him. Bautista popped up to left to end the inning.
The matchup didn't look good with Cy Young candidate JA Happ (18-4, 3.33 ERA) against Eduardo Rodriguez (2-7, 4.70 ERA) because the Toronto Blue Jays hit lefties well. Turns out Rodriguez hung tough but
Dustin Pedroia made sure there would be no shutout with a solo blast to left to open the top of the 6th. That was it as Bogaerts popped up, Ortiz flied out and Mr. Mookie grounded out to end the inning. JBJ robbed Martin of a bloop hit with a diving catch to lead off the bottom of the 6th. Tulowitzky flied out and Upton popped up to end the inning. Rodriguez had given up 3 runs in 6 innings, not much more you can ask from a second year pitcher against a team that dominates lefties. If the Sox had any kind of offense, the outcome would have been different.
Ramirez tried to start a rally with a leadoff single to begin the top of the seventh inning. Hill singled to right and Ramirez raced to third. That was it for Happ as Jays manager John Gibbons pulled him for Jaquin Benoit. Sox manager John Farrell didn't pitch hit Young or pinch run for Hill and Young popped up to right. JBJ hit a shot to the wall but it was caught, although it did score Ramirez. He was 10 feet higher away from giving the Sox the lead. Still it was now 3-2 and Travis Shaw pinch hit for Hanigan. Shaw whiffed on a pitch in the dirt and the Jays kept the lead. Bryan Holoday took over behind the plate and Matt Barnes replaced Rodriguez for the bottom of the seventh. Barnes whiffed Smoak but Pillar singled and moved to third on the hit and run by the red hot Travis. Donaldson continued his slump by lining one right to Bogaerts. Encarnarcion lined out to right to end the inning. Barnes did his job.
Jason Grilli replaced Benoit for the top of the 8th and cruised. Pedroia grounded out to second and Bogaerts looked at strike 3 but Tulowitzky played OLE! with a ground ball that allowed Ortiz to reach first. Farrell pinch ran Ortiz with Yoan Moncada and he made yet another mental error. Mr. Mookie popped up and Moncada stopped in between first and second, THERE WERE TWO OUTS! RUN YOU FOOL! Fox analysist Tom Verducci decreed Moncada was not ready to play MLB and I'd have to agree. Joe Kelly came on to pitch the bottom of the eighth and Bautista lined out to center. Martin looked at a 3-2 curveball down the middle but Tulowitzky walked. Upton struck out on a check swing to end the inning.
Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna came on to pitch the top of the ninth. Ramirez worked a full count walk to put the lead runner on. Brock Holt pinch hit for Aaron Hill and grounder into a fielder's choice, Ramirez out at second. Young popped up and JBJ swung and missed at strike 3 to end it. Once again the Sox crapped their pants when trailing in a game. Yet another game where they don't beat mediocre bullpens.
Jackass of the Night is a tough one. Rodriguez pitched relatively well and Hill's error was the difference in the game. I'll go with Aaron Hill because the error decided the game.
The Good:
Hanley Ramirez was 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored. Chris Young was 1 for 3 and made a heads up baserunning play. Matt Barnes pitched a scoreless 7th inning. Joe Kelly pitched a scoreless 8th inning.
The Bad:
Xander Bogaerts was 0 for 4 with strikeouts. Yoan Moncada pinch ran for David Ortiz and stopped on a 2 out pop up. That's an inexcusable mental error. Brock Holt was 0 for 1 as a pinch hitter. Ryan Hanigan was 0 for 2.
The Ugly
Dustin Pedroia was just 1 for 4 but made the hit count with a solo home run. David Ortiz was 0 for 4 but the last at bat he reached on an error. Mookie Betts was 0 for 3 with a walk. Jackie Bradley Jr was 0 for 3 including striking out repesenting the winning run...but drove in a run. Travis Shaw struck out in his pinch hit appearance.
Honorable Mention:
Bryan Holoday caught the final two innings.
Final Thoughts:
I figured this would be the game to lose and as usual once they fell behind, they didn't come back. A disturbing trend continued that once they fell behind, the Toronto bullpen, like every other god damn bullpen they face, was almost flawless. The Sox are now 7-40 when scoring 3 runs or less. They are who they are at this point, if they score first they have a chance but fall behind and they're done. The Sox look to take the series tomorrow when Clay Buchholz (6-10) take on Toronto's ace Aaron Sanchez (13-2) in the finale.
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