As for the game, this was one of the wildest games I've ever seen. The Boston Red Sox set a major league record for strikeouts by punching out 23 Tampa Bay Rays....and still were in danger of losing right to the final at bat. In extra innings, Dustin Pedroia pulled some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle tricks to score the game's go-ahead run and Joe Kelly closed out the 3-2 win at Tropicana Field....David Ortiz' final at the Trop.
The Sox struck first in the top of the first against Jake Odorizzi. Last night's hero Dustin Pedroia flied out to center but Xander Bogaerts worked a walk. The crowd erupted for Ortiz in his final game at Tropicana Field. Ortiz stroked a single in the right field corner that moved Bogaerts to third. Mr. Mookie Betts put the Sox on top with a seeing eye single to left field. Hanley Ramirez banged into a double play to end the inning with the Sox up 1-0. Eduardo Rodriguez got the ball to start the game and Logan Forsythe hit a rocket, snagged by Travis Shaw at third. Kevin Kiermaier struck out but Evan Longoria singled. Brad Miller flied out to the wall in right to end the inning.
Travis Shaw looked at strike three to open the top of the second inning. Chris Young grounded out to short on a bang bang play but Andrew Benintendi walked. Christian Vazquez fouled off a lot of pitches before striking out on the 10th pitch of the at-bat. Odorizzi had thrown 59 pitches already. The Rays struck back in the bottom of the second when Mr. Mookie dropped a line drive and got a face full of turf, allowing Mikie Mahtook to reach second. Rodriguez walked Corey Dickerson on four pitches that wasn't even close but blew away Curt Casali with a fastball down the middle. Luke Maile singled to load the bases and Richie Shaffer hit a sac fly to score Mahtook to tie the game. Rodriguez blew away Forsythe to end the inning but he was driving up his pitch count too.
The Sox got the run back in the top of the third. Pedroia hit his second home run in two days to lead off the inning. Bogaerts then hit a liner that Mahtook dove and missed trying to catch, allowing Xander to reach second. Ortiz whiffed but Mr. Mookie walked on a borderline 3-2 pitch. Ramirez hit into his second double play of the day to end the inning. Still, the Sox had a 2-1 lead and Odorizzi was up to 84 pitches. Rodriguez did himself no favors when Kiermaier was hit on the left wrist to open the bottom of the third. Eduardo recovered to whiff Longoria, Miller and Mahtook to end the inning.
Rays manager Kevin Cash felt that was enough from Odorizzi and pulled him for Justin Marks in the top of the fourth. Shaw flied out and Young popped up but Benintendi walked. Vazquez doubled Andrew to third but Pedroia grounded out to end the inning. Rodriguez made it four straight strikeouts by whiffing Dickerson to open the bottom of the fourth. Rodriguez then inexplicably walked .170 hitter Casali. He struck out Maile and Shaffer to end the inning. He either walks a guy or strikes them out, no in between.
Jaff Decker replaced Kiermaier in the lineup but stayed in right as Mahtook moved to center to begin the top of the fifth. Bogaerts walked and hustled to third on the single by Ortiz. Mr. Mookie grounded one to third and Bogaerts was thrown out in a run-down, although it prevented a double play. Betts then got picked off of first and Ramirez lined out to center to end the inning.
Rodriguez returned for the bottom of the fifth and whiffed Forsythe for his 10th strikeout today. Decker looked a strike three and Longoria waived at strike three to end the inning. Rodriguez had struck out 12 through 5 innings.
Marks returned for the top of the sixth and struck out Shaw to begin the inning. Young whiffed but Benny The Kid walked. That was it for Marks, Rays manager Kevin Cash lifted Marks for Erasmo Ramirez. Benintendi took second on a passed ball but Vazquez grounded back to the pitcher to end the inning. Rodriguez briefly returned for the bottom of the sixth briefly to strike out Miller, leaving to a pat on the back from his teammates and a standing ovation from the Red Sox partisan crowd.
Heath Hembree replaced Rodriguez and blew away Mahtook for the second out. Dickerson struck out to end the inning. That's 8 straight strikeouts as a team for Tampa Bay. Someone check their bats for holes.
Pedroia grounded out to begin the top of the seventh and Bogaerts flied out. Ortiz then whiffed badly. His body language all game told the story of a man who didn't want to be there. Like David Price against the Yankees, Ortiz wasn't ready to play today after the death of Fernandez. Hembree returned for the bottom of the seventh and whiffed Casali to begin the inning. Maile whiffed as well. Shaffer struck out to end the inning....11 straight strikeouts and 18 overall. The eleven straight strikeouts were a major league record. The Sox were also 6 outs away from 11 wins in a row.
Brad Boxberger took the mound in the top of the eighth and got Mr. Mookie to pop up, Ramirez to ground out and Shaw to strike out to end the inning. Matt Barnes took over in the bottom of the eighth and crapped his pants. Forsythe singled but Decker looked at strike three. Longoria walked to chase Barnes and Sox manager John Farrell auditioned Fernando Abad for the lefty specialist role by having him pitch to Miller. Abad failed as Miller singled to score Longoria and ruin Rodriguez' amazing start. With 1st and 3rd with one out, Joe Kelly was brought in to pitch to Franklin....getting a double play to end the inning.
Tampa closer Alex Colome took the mound in the top of the ninth. Young whiffed badly in the dirt, Benny The Kid flied out to the wall and Vazquez grounded out to end the inning. The Sox set a record in the bottom of the ninth as Dickerson popped up to begin the inning. Casali struck out to tie the major league record in a 9 inning game and Maile whiffed to break the record. As sad as it was, the Rays whiffed 21 times in 9 innings and still could win it in the 10th.
Eddie Gamboa got the ball in the top of the 10th and last night's hero Pedroia greeted him with a single. Bogaerts lined out to left which brought up Ortiz for his final at-bat in Tropicana Field. One of the most incredible plays in baseball history occurred next. Ortiz lined a double into the gap and Pedroia ran around heading for home. The throw beat him by a mile but he jumped over the tag by Maile. Luke swiped at him again but Pedroia jumped over that. Maile swiped up toward Pedroia's ballbag but the ball came free, scoring Pedroia at home. Holy crap. Kevin Cash challenged the play but sure enough, not enough evidence to overturn it and it was 3-2 Red Sox. Marco Hernandez pinch ran for Ortiz at second as Mr. Mookie popped up. A passed ball by Maile moved Hernandez to third but Ramirez grounded out to end the inning. Somehow, someway, Pedroia scored and the Sox had the 3-2 lead.
Sox manager John Farell wanted to rest Koji Uehara and Craig Kimbrel so this was Joe Kelly's game to lose in the bottom of the tenth. Shaffer singled off a bad hop to Shaw at third but Forsythe whiffed for the Rays 22nd strikeout of the game. Decker whiffed for number 23 and the Sox were one out away from win number 11 in a row. Longoria singled to prolong the agony but Miller lined out to left to end the game. The Sox set a ML record and won their 11th in a row, sweeping the Rays out of Tropicana Field with a 3-2 victory.
Tonight we have THREE...count em'...THREE heroes of the night. The first is pitcher Joe Kelly. He was asked to work 3 innings and nail down the win, doing both to give the Sox the win. His record improved to 4-0 and has been almost unhittable since his second call-up out of the bullpen.
Hero number 2 is David Ortiz. In his final game at Tropicana Field the day Jose Fernandez died, he ripped a game winning double into the gap to score our third hero.
Hero number 3 is Dustin Pedroia...his Matrix like moves scored the winning run to help propel the Sox to their 11th win in a row.
The Good:
Xander Bogaerts was 1 for 3 with 2 walks and a run scored. Andrew Benintendi walked in 3 out of 4 plate appearances. Eduardo Rodriguez was outstanding, striking out 13 batters in 5 1/3 innings and Heath Hembree faced 5 batters and struck them all out.
The Bad:
Hanley Ramirez was 0 for 4. Travis Shaw was 0 for 4 with a hat trick...ugh. Chris Young was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. Matt Barnes coughed up the lead by giving up the tying run in the bottom of the eighth. Fernando Abad pitched to one batter and gave up a game tying single.
The Ugly:
Christian Vazquez was just 1 for 4.
Honorable Mention:
Marco Hernandez pinch ran for Ortiz in the top of the tenth.
Final Thoughts:
Well that was a lot of fun. The Sox made it 11 in a row by sweeping their their third consecutive series, second straight on the road and they did it in style. The Sox pitchers combined to strike out 23 Rays in 10 innings and the kamikaze leaping by Pedroia led to the winning run. Only teams that are going places in October get these kinds of wins during the regular season. As it is the Sox are on a collision course with October baseball as they've already clinched at least a wild card spot. The question becomes WHERE do they go. Their magic number to clinch the division is 2 thanks to the Toronto Blue Jays beating the New York Yankees today. The Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers also lost so right now The Rangers are top seed due to a tiebreaker with the Red Sox in front of the Indians by a half-game. The Sox should want to play Cleveland since they're down two starters and both Toronto and Baltimore as wild cards are scary. Still, they are winning in every which way and its great to see Clay Buchholz and Rodriguez step up for the 3rd starter spot. The win improved the Sox to 92-64, 5.5 games in front of Toronto with 6 to go. Tomorrow is an off-day as the Red Sox wrap up their road schedule with one series left, beginning Tuesday night in New York. David Price (17-8, 3.91 ERA) is the announced starter. If the Jays lose tomorrow, the Sox clinch the division anyway even while idle. Personally, I'd love to see the Jays win tomorrow just so the Sox can eliminate New York and celebrate the division title right in front of the Yankee fans.
Magic Number: 2
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