As for the game, better late than never for the Sox. After sleepwalking through 6 innings and making errors to fall behind in the 7th, the offense woke up thanks to a clutch pinch hit home run by Brock "The Hitman" Holt to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays and clinch a post-season playoff berth with 17 games remaining. Chris Sale tossed an inning of "rehab" before the bullpen took over, allowing just 2 runs in 8 innings as the sleepy Sox woke up to beat the Jays 7-2 at Fenway Park.
Sale took the mound in the top of the first inning and Lourdes Gurriel Jr doubled to start. Devon Travis whiffed and Justin Smoak struck out swinging before Kendrys Morales was plunked. Randal Grichuk popped up to second to end the inning.
Blue Jays pitcher Ryan Borucki blinded the Sox for most of the game and it began in the bottom of the first when Mr. Mookie Betts whiffed to start. Andrew Benintendi struck out swinging and JD Martinez grounded out to second to end the inning.
Brandon Workman came in for Sale in the top of the second inning as Kevin Pillar grounded out to first to start. Teoscar Hernandez flied out to center but Aledmys Diaz walked. Danny Jansen whiffed to end the inning. The Sox did nothing in the bottom of the second as Xander Bogaerts whiffed to start. Steve Pearce walked but Ian Kinsler banged into a double play to end the inning.
Nathan Eovaldi came in to pitch the top of the third and Gurriel walked to start...only to get picked off by the alert Eovaldi. Travis grounded out to short before Smoak grounded out to first to end the inning. The Sox did nothing in the bottom of the third as Eduardo Nunez and Sandy Leon grounded out to third, but Jackie Bradley Jr singled. Mr. Mookie flied out to center to end the inning.
Eovaldi stayed hot in the top of the fourth inning as Morales popped up to third to begin. Grichuk whiffed and Pillar flied out to left to end the inning. The Sox mustered nothing in the bottom of the fourth as Benintendi and Martinez flied out to center and Bogaerts grounded out to short to end the inning.
Eovaldi kept pace in the top of the fifth inning as Hernandez struck out swinging to start. Diaz lined out to center but Jansen singled. Gurriel Jr whiffed to end the inning. Sox radio analyst Tim Neverett told a hilarious story in the bottom of the fifth that Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash would text the Rays who would be playing or not. One time Cash texted Pearce he was not playing and Pearce replied "wrong number". Pearce flied out to right to start before Kinsler grounded out to short. Nunez singled but Leon grounded into a force to extend his slump to 0 for 24 to end the inning.
The Jays struck first due to a comedy of errors in the top of the sixth inning. Travis doubled to start and Smoak flied out to the right field wall to advance Travis to third. Morales walked to set up a double play but Jonathan Davis pinch ran for him. Davis took off for second and Leon foolishly threw to second. Kinsler tried to throw home to nail Travis but the throw sailed away and the run scored, Davis moving to third on the error. Grichuk whiffed but Pillar singled Davis home. That was it for Eovaldi who got no help from the defense in that inning.
Ryan Brasier (2-0, 1.65 ERA) took over and struck out Hernandez to end the inning with the Jays up 2-0. The Sox failed to respond in the bottom of the sixth as JBJ struck out to start. Mr. Mookie lined out to center and Benintendi whiffed to end the inning.
Brasier cruised in the top of the seventh as Diaz flied out to center to start. Jansen looked at strike three and Gurriel Jr grounded out to third to end the inning. The sleepy offense finally woke up in the bottom of the seventh inning. Martinez grounded out to short but Bogaerts walked. "Wrong Number" Pearce lined a shot into the gap and Pillar kamikazed himself into the wall allowing Pearce to make it to third for a triple to score Bogaerts. Tzu-Wei Lin ran for Pearce and Jays manager John Gibbons sent in Ryan Tepera to pitch to Kinsler. Ian whiffed to make things look bleak but somehow Nunez walked and Mitch Moreland pinch hit for Leon.....but wait. Sox manager Alex Cora brought Moreland back and had Brock "The Hitman" Holt pinch hit for Leon instead. The gamble worked as Holt smashed a 3 run bomb to give the Sox the lead as Fenway exploded for the first time all night. JBJ grounded out to first to end the inning but the Sox had the lead 4-2.
Christian Vazquez took over behind the plate and Hector "The Insurance Policy" Velazquez came in to face Travis only to begin the top of the eighth. Luckily Hector got him to ground out to second before he was replaced by Bobby Poyner. Smoak flied out to left but Yangervis Solarte pinch hit for Davis and singled. Cora then made the bold move by bringing in Joe Kelly to pitch to Grichuk. That move worked too as Kelly punched out Grichuk to end the inning. The Sox iced the game in the bottom of the eighth against Jake Petricka as Mr. Mookie walked to start. Benintendi doubled him home and Martinez singled Benintendi to third. Bogaerts popped up to right and Vazquez lined out to short but Kinsler atoned for his bad throw with an rbi single to score Benintendi. Taylor Guerrieri came in to pitch but Kinsler swiped second and a wild pitch scored Martinez, moving Kinsler to third. Nunez flied out to right to end the inning with the Sox up 7-2.
Heath Hembree had mop up duty in the top of the ninth and Pillar looked at strike three to start. Dwight Smith Jr pinch hit for Hernandez and flied out to left before Rowdy Tellez pinch hit for Diaz. Tellez flied out to center to end the game. The Sox had won it 7-2 and toasted each other after for the post-season clinching victory.
Hero of the Night is Brock Holt. His pinch hit 3 run homer ended up being the decisive blow.
The Good:
Steve Pearce was 1 for 2 with a walk and an rbi.
Tzu-Wei Lin pinch ran for Pearce and scored.
Eduardo Nunez was 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 1 for 3.
Chris Sale pitched a scoreless first inning.
Brandon Workman pitched a scoreless second inning.
Ryan Brasier got the win with 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Hector Velazquez retired the only man he faced.
Bobby Poyner tossed 1/3 of a scoreless inning.
Joe Kelly retired the only man he faced.
Heath Hembree pitched a scoreless 9th inning.
The Bad:
Christian Vazquez was 0 for 1 at the plate.
Sandy Leon was 0 for 2 to extend his hitless streak to 24 at bats.
The Ugly:
Mookie Betts was 0 for 3 but walked and scored.
Andrew Benintendi was just 1 for 4 but drove in a run and scored.
JD Martinez was just 1 for 4 but scored a run.
Xander Bogaerts was 0 for 3 but walked and scored.
Ian Kinsler was just 1 for 4 with an error but stole a base and drove in a run.
Nathan Eovaldi allowed 2 runs in 3 2/3 innings mostly due to a bad error by Kinsler.
Final Thoughts:
Its about time the offense woke up, people were seriously thinking they would never score again. The time to take the division is now with 5 remaining games against the Jays and New York Mets at home. The New York Yankees got crushed by the Minnesota Twins and the Oakland A's beat the Baltimore Orioles so the A's are only 2 games behind the Yankees for home field in the wild card game. The sooner the Sox can lock up the division, the sooner they can set their playoff rotation. Chris Sale needs to get healthy and Eduardo Rodriguez needs to pitch better if the Sox have any hope of October success. Eovaldi looked better tonight and Alex Cora should spend the next 17 games trying to figure out a bullpen combination to use moving forward. Having a starter go 7 innings for once would help. The win propelled the Sox to 99-46, 9 games ahead of the Yankees for first place in the AL East. It should be noted the 1978 Red Sox who pulled off a legendary collapse won 99 regular season games. The 2018 Red Sox have won 99 games with 17 to play. Tomorrow night David Price (14-6, 3.57 ERA) looks to defeat Aaron Sanchez at 7:10 PM at Fenway Park.
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