The Sox wasted no time getting to Archer in the top of the first. Dustin Pedroia waived at a 1-2 slider, but Xander Bogaerts walked. David Ortiz crushed his 37th homer of the year off the catwalk to give the Sox a 2-0 lead. Mr. Mookie Betts legged out an infield single but Hanley Ramirez waived at a 0-2 slider in the dirt. Travis Shaw grounded out to first to end the inning.
The much maligned Pomeranz took the ball in the bottom of the first. Logan Forsythe grounded out to short, Kevin Kiermaier struck out and Evan Longoria grounded out to short to end the inning.
Jackie Bradley Jr led off the top of the second by grounding out to second. Bryan Holoday walked and advanced to second on the ground-out by Brock "Hitman" Holt. Sox analyst Jerry Remy remarked they may have had Holoday at second. Pedroia popped up but Archer had already thrown nearly 50 pitches to get through 2 innings, vintage 2013 Red Sox. The Rays tagged Pomeranz in the bottom of the second, Brad Miller popped up but Mike Mahtook hit a line drive home run to cut the lead 2-1. Corey Dickerson whiffed and Alexi Ramirez flied out to end the inning.
The Sox threatened in the top of the third. Bogaerts grounded out and Ortiz popped up but Mr. Mookie singled to right, then Ramirez singled to left. Shaw flied out to end the inning. The Rays threatened in the bottom of the third. Bobby Wilson grounded out but Luke Maile doubled. Maile moved to third on the ground out by Forsythe. Kiermaier flied out to end the inning.
Archer responded with a great top of the fourth. JBJ flied out to right, Holoday struck out and Pedroia flied out to deep right to end the inning. The Sox got some big defensive help in the bottom of the fourth. Longoria flied out but Miller doubled and Mahtook singled him to third. Dickerson then lined a grounder past Pomeranz to Bogaerts, who tossed it to Pedroia to second...ON TO RAMIREZ for the double play! Big assist to the defense to keep the lead 2-1.
Archer cruised in the top of the fifth. Bogaerts flied out on the first pitch and Ortiz flied out of his own. Mr. Mookie singled but Ramirez waived at another slider in the dirt to end the inning. Pomeranz returned for the fifth and go Ramirez to fly out to begin the bottom of the frame. Wilson watched strike three go by and Pomeranz whiffed Maile to end the inning. 5 innings and 1 run allowed by Pomeranz, not bad at all. Sox manager John Farrell told him he was done for the night with his inning workload doubled from last year. The Sox would have to mix and match if they wanted to win this one.
Archer returned for the top of the sixth and punched out Shaw and JBJ to begin the inning. Holoday dribbled a single to right but Holt waived at a slider in the dirt to end the inning. This was the good Archer tonight, he didn't give an inch. It was up to Joe Kelly to preserve the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Forsythe grounded out to third and Kiermaier grounded out to second, then Longoria popped up to end the inning. The Sox were 9 outs from their 9th straight win.
Ryan Garton relieved Archer in the top of the seventh and got Pedroia to line out. Bogaerts grounded out and Rays manager Kevin Cash pulled Garton in favor of former Pawtucket Red Sock Dana Eveland. Ortiz greeted Dana with a double off the wall....but wait! Rays manager Kevin Cash wanted the play review and sure enough, David's knee barely came off the bag on he slide but the umpires decided that was enough to call him out. Call it a single and out trying to stretch but the inning was over. Robbie Ross Jr was brought in to face the lefty Miller in the bottom of the seventh. Miller flied out and Mahtook looked at strike three but Dickerson hit a ground rule double. Farrell then wanted Matt Barnes to face Alexi Ramirez...but wait, Cash countered by pinch hitting Nick Franklin. Barnes got Franklin to pop up to end the inning. The Sox were 6 outs away from 9 in a row.
Danny Farquhar got the ball in the top of the eighth as Juniel Querecuto took over at short. Mr. Mookie led off with a walk but was erased on the force by Ramirez. Hanley moved to second on the ground out by Shaw and JBJ was intentionally walked to get to Holoday. Farrell countered by pinch hitting Andrew Benintendi in this spot. Farquhar then gave Benny The Kid the ol unintentional intentional walk to load the bases for Holt. Unfortunately Holt popped up to end the inning. Barnes returned for the bottom of the eighth with Christian Vazquez now behind the plate. Matt blew away Wilson and pinch hitter Jaff Decker (for Maile) but walked Forsythe. With the lefty Kiermaier up, Farrell went to Robby Scott to see if he can be his situational lefty. Scott passed the test, getting Kiermaier to ground out to end the inning. 3 outs to go.
Brad Boxberger took the mound in the top of the ninth and got Pedroia to ground out but Bogaerts singled. Ortiz flied out and Mr. Mookie popped up to end the inning. With Koji Uehara and Craig Kimbrel resting for better days, Brad Ziegler came in to close this one out. One thing he DIDN'T want to do was pitch to Longoria and sure enough, Evan doubled into the gap to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Miller hit one to center and Bogaerts made a mad dash to run it down for the first out. Ziegler whiffed Mahtook to bring up Dickerson. Sox manager John Farrell made the gutsy call to intentionally walk Dickerson to get to the rookie Querecuto who made his major league debut yesterday. Ziegler punched him out to end the game. The Sox have won NINE in a row and the game 2-1.
Hero of the Night is Brad Ziegler. He was asked to close out the win and did it with men on base to preserve the win and lower the September bullpen ERA to 0.77.
The Good:
David Ortiz was 2 for 5 with a run scored and 2 rbi's off his 37th homer of the year. Mookie Betts was 3 for 4. Bryan Holoday was 1 for 2 with a walk. Andrew Benintendi pinch hit for Holoday and walked. Drew Pomeranz threw 5 innings of 1 run ball to earn his 3rd win with the Red Sox. He was on an innings limit so good work to keep the Sox in the game. Joe Kelly pitched a scoreless sixth. Robbie Ross Jr retired 2 of the 3 men he faced. Matt Barnes retired 3 of the four men he faced. Robby Scott got the only man he faced.
The Bad:
Dustin Pedroia was 0 for 5 and he's been slumping badly lately. Travis Shaw was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
The Ugly:
Xander Bogaerts was just 1 for 4 but walked and scored a run. Hanley Ramirez was just 1 for 4. Jackie Bradley Jr was 0 for 3 but walked. Brock Holt was just 1 for 4.
Honorable Mention:
Christian Vazquez caught the final two innings.
Final Thoughts:
The Sox historically own Archer but not tonight. He was very good, he just got almost no run support and the Rays batters ran into a buzzsaw known as the Red Sox bullpen. The 9 straight wins are telling because they've won in every fashion...close games, blowouts, come from behind wins. Sox manager John Farell made a lot of moves that worked out tonight and he's starting to find a bullpen role for every guy. Better late than never. Ziegler and Uehara are his set up guys, Kimbrel is his closer and Scott is his situational lefty. Kelly, Barnes and Hembree are his long men. That sounds good to me for October if they make it that far. Pomeranz is the odd man out by then but he did his job tonight. The one measly thing to complain about is Betts, Bogaerts and Pedroia have played A LOT of games and could really use a rest. Maybe Farrell is waiting for them to clinch the division, but not resting guys could mean an exhausted team come October. The win propels the Sox to 90-64, matching the 2011 "best team everrrr" Red Sox record for wins with 8 to play. The magic number to clinch the division is down to four with the Toronto Blue Jays victorious tonight against the fading New York Yankees. The Sox look to make it 10 in a row tomorrow as Rick Porcello (21-4, 3.08 ERA) looks to cement his Cy Young status against Matt Andriese (8-7, 4.41 ERA).
Magic Number - 4 to win division, 2 to earn a spot of any kind.
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