It was bad news all around as the Miami Heat defeated the depleted Boston Celtics in Game 1 of their NBA East Finals series and the Houston Astros tied a major league record for home runs in a single inning in a rout of the Boston Red Sox. Nathan Eovaldi (1-2, 4.32 ERA) was straight batting practice tonight. He served up FIVE home runs in the top of the second inning to put the game out of reach before some fans had even got to their seats. Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, Jeremy Pena, Michael Brantley and Yuli Gurriel all went yard to send the incompetent Eovaldi to the showers. The sad part was the Sox took the lead with a home run by Rafael Devers in the bottom of the first and JD Martinez hit a two run shot in the bottom of the third. Any hope of a comeback was dashed when Tucker hit a grand slam off Tyler Danish in the top of the fourth. In what's turning out to be a lost season, this one took the cake as the Astros pounded the Sox into submission with a 13-4 victory at Fenway Park.
Eovaldi got the ball in the top of the first inning and Jose Altuve grounded back to the mound to start. Michael Brantley lined out to center and Alex Bregman popped up to first to end the inning. The Sox wasted no time getting to Jose Urquidy in the bottom of the first as Kike Hernandez grounded out to third to start. Rafael Devers pounded his 7th home run of the season to put the Sox on top and JD Martinez extended his hitting streak with a base hit to left. Xander Bogaerts amd Alex Verdugo both flied out to right to end the inning with the Sox up 1-0.
Just like last night, as soon as the Sox scored the Astros answered. Yordan Alvarez hit a home run all the way to Mexico to start the top of the second. Yuli Gurriel hit a rouine grounder to Devers who threw to Franchy Cordero WHO DROPPED IT FOR AN ERROR!! Kyle Tucker laughed as he effortlessly hit a 2 run bomb to Sri Lanka to put the Astros up for good. Jeremy Pena then hit a home run into the Charles River as the entire MLB fandom laughed at Eovaldi. Jackie Bradley Jr had to reach into the bullpen to rob Jose Siri of a third straight home run but Martin Maldonado missed a home run by 8 feet to right but had to settle for a single. Altuve doubled off the top of the Monster to move Maldonado to third and Brantley hit the exclamation point with a 3 run bomb to ice the game. Somehow Bregman grounded out to third but Alvarez singled to left. Gurriel then wrapped up the historic inning with another 2 run home run to tie a major league record with 5 home runs in an inning. Sox manager Alex Cora woke up from his nap to mercifully yank Eovaldi after giving up more home runs than outs he recorded. Tyler Danish came in and Tucker grounded out to third to end the inning with the game over 40 minutes into it, 9-1.
Naturally the Sox blew a rally trying to get back in the game in the bottom of the second as Trevor Story doubled to center to start. Cordero flied out to left but Kevin Plawecki lined a base hit to right to put runners at the corners. Jackie Bradley Jr struck out swinging and Hernandez grounded out to third to blow the rally to end the inning.
Pena grounded back to the mound to start the top of the third before Siri grounded out to third. Maldonado was plunked but Altuve hit one up the elevator shaft to end the inning. Devers tried to start a rally with a double to left to start the bottom of the third and Martinez smashed his 5th home run of the lead to cut the lead. Bogaerts lined out to left but Verdugo got a base hit to left. Story lined a base hit off of Siri to move Verdugo to third but Cordero popped up to third. Plawecki lined out to center to end the inning with the Sox down 9-3.
The Astros poured it on in the top of the fourth as Brantley singled to center to start. Originally it looked like Bregman banged into a double play but the Astros challenged the call. Sure enough, Bregman was safe and Devers booted a grounder by Alvarez for an error. Gurriel singled to left to load the bases and Tucker did the honors with a grand slam to clear out Fenway Park of most fans. Pena took strike three and Siri whiffed to end the inning with the Astros up 13-3.
JBJ lined out to right to start the bottom of the fourth but Hernandez got a base hit to right. Devers singled to center but Martinez popped up to third and Bogaerts grounded out to third to end the inning.
Hiro Sawamura came in to pitch the top of the fifth and Maldonado struck out swinging to start. Altuve went down hacking and Brantley grounded back to the mound to end the inning. The Sox tried to rally in the bottom of the fifth as Verdugo singled to center. Verdugo appeared to have beaten out a force play at second hit by Story but the umpires called Alex out. The Sox challenged the call but it was upheld. Cordero doubled to right but all Plawecki could do was drive in Story with a grounder to short. JBJ grounded out to second to end the inning with the Sox down 13-4.
Ryan Brasier came in to pitch the top of the sixth and Bregman got a base hit to left to start. Alvarez flied out to left, Gurriel flied out to right and Tucker struck out swinging to end the inning. Seth Martinez came in to pitch the bottom of the sixth and the Sox blew another rally. Hernandez popped up to second and Devers flied out to center, but Martinez doubled to center. Bogaerts walked but with two men on, Verdugo forced Bogaerts to end the inning.
Bobby Dalbec took over for Devers, Christian Arroyo took over for Bogaerts and Matt Barnes came in to pitch the top of the seventh. Pena struck out swinging to start but Siri singled to left. Maldonado grounded into a double play to end the inning. Mauricio Dubon took over for Altuve and Chas McCormick came in for Alvarez to start the bottom of the seventh and Story flied out to right to start. Cordero also flied out to right and Plawecki struck out swinging to end the inning.
Jake Diekman came in to pitch the top of the eighth and Dubon doubled off the glove of a diving Bradley to start. Brantley grounded back to the mound but Bregman walked....only for McCormick to strike out swinging. Gurriel forced Bregman at second to end the inning. The Sox blew ANOTHER rally in the bottom of the eighth after JBJ reached on an error by Bregman to start. Hernandez popped up to first but Dalbec walked. Once again with two men on....Martinez flied out to center and Arroyo hit one up the elevator shaft to end the inning.
Austin Davis came in to pitch the top of the ninth and Tucker took strike three to start. Pena beat out a roller to third but was erased at second on a force by Siri. Maldonado flied out to right to end the inning. Blake Taylor came in to close out the bottom of the ninth and Verdugo grounded out to second to start. Story walked but Cordero struck out swinging. Plawecki grounded out to third to end the game. The Astros had won it 13-4.
Jackass of the Night is Nathan Eovaldi. He allowed 5 home runs and gave up 9 runs in the second inning.
The Good:
Rafael Devers was 3 for 4 with a home run.
Bobby Dalbec walked as a pinch hitter.
JD Martinez was 3 for 5 with a 2 run home run.
Alex Verdugo was 2 for 5.
Trevor Story was 2 for 4 with a walk and a run scored.
Hiro Sawamura pitched a scoreless inning.
Ryan Brasier pitched a scoreless inning.
Matt Barnes pitched a scoreless inning.
Jake Diekman pitched a scoreless inning.
Austin Davis pitched a scoreless inning.
The Bad:
Christian Arroyo was 0 for 1 at the plate.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
Tyler Danish allowed a grand slam in 2 1/3 innings.
The Ugly:
Kike Hernandez was just 1 for 5.
Xander Bogaerts was 0 for 3 but walked.
Franchy Cordero was just 1 for 5 with a strikeout.
Kevin Plawecki was just 1 for 5 but drove in a run.
Final Thoughts:
You know what the worst part about this game is? Forget Eovaldi and Danish getting shelled, its the fact the Sox had almost as many hits as the Astros but pushed just 4 runs across. While the Astros were playing home run derby, the Sox apart from Martinez didn't hit anything the rest of the game. They had multiple chances to push runs across but couldn't do it. Even if the team kept fighting and lost 13-9 you can feel a little bit better, but no. The same trouble that's been plaguing the offense all year just hasn't gone away. A lot of that has to do with everyone outside of Martinez, Devers and Bogaerts hitting under .232 and changes HAVE to be made. Unfortunately the bad news in that department is Triston Casas is only hitting .248 and Jeter Downs .228. Jarren Duran is hitting .337 and is clearly ready so Kike or Bradley's days could be numbered. On the pitching side Josh Winckowski's ERA is 2.10 and Connor Seabold is 3-1 with a 2.45 ERA. Either one of those guys could be brought up to start, put Whitlock in the bullpen and we'll never see guys like Danish again. Then again it doesn't matter if the team can't hit. You can hold a team to two runs every game but if you're only scoring one run, there ya go. There's going to be days where your starter gets shelled, its inevitable. Even Pedro Martinez, Jon Lester and Curt Schilling got bombed once in a while. What can't happen is 6 out of 9 guys be automatic outs more often than not. The loss dropped the Sox to 14-22, good for fourth place in the AL East. Tomorrow night the Sox look to take the rubber game of the series when Nick Pivetta (1-4, 5.08 ERA) takes on Luis Garcia of the Astros. The game begins at 6:10 PM at Fenway Park.
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