Bundy established dominance early by striking out Dustin Pedroia on 3 straight fastballs. Xander Bogaerts then hit a dribbler in front of the plate and Bundy threw it over the head of Bogaerts, allowing Xander to reach second. Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter wanted to waste time by protesting Xander being out of the basepaths, he wasn't. David Ortiz flied out to center but Mr. Mookie Betts worked a full count walk. Hanley Ramirez popped up but Bundy had thrown 23 pitches. Porcello got the ball to start the bottom of the first and put Bogaerts to work early. Adam Jones grounded out to short. Hyun-Soo Kim popped up to short and Bogaerts made a great throw to get the slow running Manny Machado at first on a grounder to end the inning.
Bundy continued to dominate in the top of the second. He blew away Sandy Leon and got Brock Holt to ground out, but Jackie Bradley Jr somehow singled to right. JBJ swiped second when catcher Matt Wieters hit Jackie with the throw. Andrew Benintendi grounded out to first but Bundy was up to 42 pitches already. Mr. Mookie made a great diving catch to rob Mark Trumbo of a ht to begin the bottom of the second. Chris Davis flied out to left and Hanley Ramirez made a great diving stab to rob JJ Hardy of a hit. Porcello had thrown only 15 pitches in two innings.
The Sox struck first in the top of the third. Pedroia continued his slump by popping up on the first pitch. At least he could have made Bundy work. Bogaerts singled but Ortiz once again flied out to center. Mr. Mookie added to his MVP type season by lining a 2 run home run to left to give the Sox a 2-0 lead. Ramirez grounded out but Bundy was up to 62 pitches and the Sox had a 2-0 lead. Wieters flied out to right to begin the bottom of the third. Jonathan Schoop grounded out to short on the first pitch. Michael Bourn struck out on 3 pitches to end the inning.
Bundy recovered in the top of the fourth. Leon popped up to short and Holt grounded out. JBJ whiffed on a 2-2 count to end the inning. Jones flied out to begin the bottom of the fourth. Kim grounded out to third and things got dicey when Machado was hit with a pitch. Machado barked at Porcello and Showalter complained to the umpire as Sox analyst Jerry Remy gave Machado the business for making a mountain out of a molehill. Why would Porcello throw at Machado with Trumbo coming up and in the middle of a pennant race? Sure enough, Trumbo doubled off the right field fence to cut the lead 2-1. Davis flied out to center to end the inning but the O's were inching closer.
The Sox struck back in the top of the fifth. Benintendi doubled in the gap in center and Pedroia singled him home. Bogaerts lined out but Ortiz blasted his 35th home run of the year, number 538 total to give the Sox a commanding 5-1 lead. Mr. Mookie walked but was thrown out at second trying to steal. Ramirez lined out to end the inning but the Sox were in command. Rick made it look easy in the bottom of the fifth. Hardy struck out on 3 pitches, Wieters grounded out on 2 pitches and Schoop grounded out in 2 pitches...a 7 pitch inning for Porcello.
Brian Duensing got the ball in the top of the sixth. Leon flied out, Holt popped up and JBJ flied out to end the inning. The O's continued to hack away in the bottom of the sixth with little result. Jones flied out on 4 pitches although Kim singled on the first pitch he saw. Machado struck out on just 3 pitches and Rick got Trumbo to swing at a full count pitch in the dirt to end the inning.
Duensing returned brieftly in the top of the seventh to retire Benintendi on a ground out before giving way to Tyler Wilson. Pedroia greeted him with a single but was erased on the force by Bogaerts. In retaliation for Machado earlier, Wilson plunked Ortiz as Sox manager John Farrell and top capo regime Torey Luvello barked at Wilson. The benches weren't warned and play continued without a fuss. Mr. Mookie lined out to end the inning. Porcello cruised in the bottom oif the seventh real quick. Davis and Hardy grounded out on a combined 4 pitches and Wieters struck out on 4 of his own. 7 innings down, two to go for Porcello.
Ramirez singled to open the top of the eighth but Leon banged into a double play to end that. That was it for Wilson as Jayson Aquino replaced him to strike out Holt to end the inning. Schoop made Porcello's bottom of the eighth easier by flying out on the first pitch. Bourn struck out on just 3 pitches but Jones swatted his 28th homer of the year to cut the lead 5-2. Kim popped up oin 2 pitches to end the inning. Porcello was just 3 outs away from a complete game.
JBJ singled to lead off the top of the ninth but Benintendi popped up, chasing Aquino. Vance Worley came in to get Pedroia to bang into a double play to end the inning. Could Porcello finish it off? He punched out Machado and got Trumbo to fly out. Davis then flied out to end the game. 89 pitches is all it took and Porcello had tossed a complete game, 4 hitter to win 5-2.
Hero of the Night is easy: Rick Porcello. He tossed a complete game on just 89 pitches, giving up just 4 hits and allowing 2 runs to keep pace with Zach Britton in the Cy Young race.
The Good:
Dustin Pedroia broke out of his mini slump by going 2 for 5 with an rbi and a run scored. David Ortiz was 1 for 3 with a run scored, hit by pitch and 2 rbi;s off his 35th home run of the year. Mookie Betts was 1 for 2 with 2 walks, a run scored and 2 rbi's off his 31st home run of the year. Jackie Bradley Jr was 2 for 4
The Bad:
Sandy Leon continues to struggle by going 0 for 4 with a strikeout. Brock Holt was also 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
The Ugly:
Xander Bogaerts was just 1 for 4 but scored a run. Hanley Ramirez was just 1 for 4. Andrew Benintendi was just 1 for 4 but scored a run.
Final Thoughts:
Another outstanding performance by Porcello who has truly become the ace of the staff. He's pitched 17 innings against arguably the best lineup in baseball the past 2 starts and allowed just 3 runs. If Zach Britton wasn't perfect in saves this season, Rick would have the Cy Young locked up and the Sox most likely would have the division title. Useless trivia but his 89 pitch complete game isn't the modern day record. Aaron Cook threw an 82 pitch complete game in 2012. Ortiz and Betts stepped up tonight and its encouraging to see Betts do it since he was struggling in September. The win improved the Sox to 86-64, 4 games in front of Baltimore for the AL East lead with just 12 games to play. Also they're just a half game behind Cleveland for the second seed in the AL East. That's huge because if the Sox manage to leapfrog them and hang on to the division, Cleveland has to come to Fenway with just Corey Kluber. Not what you want if you're an Indians fan to start your ace on the road and may not make it to him again. Tomorrow night the Sox could step on Baltimore's throat with a win with Eduardo Rodriguez (2-7) matched up against last week's villain Kevin Gausman (8-10).
Magic Number: 9 to clinch division, 6 to clinch a spot period.
No comments:
Post a Comment