It was good news all around for the city of Boston tonight. The Boston Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 2 of their second round NBA playoff series and the Boston Red Sox shut out the Los Angeles Angels. Michael Wacha (3-0, 1.38 ERA) tossed 5 2/3 shutout innings and the unpredictable bullpen managed to hold the lead this time. Offensively the Sox scored just two runs against Angels starter Noah Syndergaard but they just happened to be enough. The Sox actually tacked some runs on late on a JD Martinez home run and a Trevor Story sac fly to give Boston some breathing room. Hiro Sawamura slammed the door in the ninth inning and the Sox beat the Angels 4-0 at Fenway Park.
Wacha got the ball in the top of the first and Taylor Ward grounded back to the mound to start the top of the first inning. Mike Trout flied out to center and Shohei Ohtani lined out to short to end the inning. Syndergaard got the ball in the bottom of the first and Trevor Story lined out to left to start. Rafael Devers popped up to short and Xander Bogaerts took strike three to end the inning.
Anthony Rendon popped up to first to start the top of the second inning but Jared Walsh lined out to right. Jack Mayfield grounded out to third to end the inning. JD Martinez lined out to center to start the bottom of the second but Alex Verdugo singled to center. Kike Hernandez grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Max Stassi took strike three to start the top of the third but David Fletcher grounded out to short. Andrew Velazquez and Ward drew back to back walks but Trout struck out swinging to end the inning. Franchy Cordero grounded out to first to start the bottom of the third before Kevin Plawecki grounded out to short. Somehow Jackie Bradley Jr doubled to left but Story popped up to first to end the inning.
Ohtani got a base hit to center to start the top of the fourth but Rendon banged into a double play. Walsh popped up to third to end the inning. The Sox struck first in the bottom of the fourth as Devers crushed a home run to dead center to put Boston on top. Bogaerts drew a 7 pitch walk before Martinez singled to right. Verdugo beat out a double play ball and Hernandez scored Bogaerts with a grounder to third. Cordero beat out a roller to third but Plawecki forced Franchy at second to end the inning with the Sox ahead 2-0.
Wacha got Mayfield flied out to left to start the top of the fifth but Devers booted a grounder by Stassi for an error. Fletcher grounded into a double play to end the inning. JBJ tried to start a rally with a double to right to start the bottom of the fifth but Story grounded out to second. Devers flied out to right and Bogaerts lined out to third to end the inning.
Velazquez popped up to short to start the top of the fifth before Ward grounded out to short. Trout hit a roller to Devers but rather than eat it, he threw the ball 100 feet into the crowd for an error. The entire crowd booed as Alex Cora came out to get Wacha after just 62 pitches. Once again "analytics" was forcing the Sox bullpen to throw 3 plus innings rather than let Wacha go. Still, Michael was brilliant for 5 2/3 innings, allowing just 3 hits and 2 walks. Jake Diekman came in and Ohtani lined out to left to end the inning.
Martinez flied out to right to start the bottom of the sixth before Verdugo took strike three. Hernandez flied out to center to end the inning.
Rendon walked to start the top of the seventh but Walsh hit into a double play. Mayfield grounded out to third to end the inning. The Sox cracked Syndergaard in the bottom of the seventh as Cordero singled to center to start. Plawecki dumped a base hit to right to move Cordero to third but JBJ took strike three. Story hit a sac fly to center to score Cordero but Devers grounded out to short to end the inning. They only scored 3 runs off Syndergaard but that's three more than a lot of people predicted and they led 3-0.
Bobby Dalbec came in to play first for Cordero with Ryan Brasier now on the mound for the top of the eighth. Stassi struck out swinging and Fletcher popped up to second but Brandon Marsh pinch hit for Velazquez. Marsh struck out swinging to end the inning. Elvis Peguero came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and Bogaerts grounded out to short to start. Suddenly Martinez hit his third home run of the year and second in as many games to ice the game. Verdugo grounded out to first and Hernandez popped up to second to end the inning with the Sox ahead 4-0.
Hiro Sawamura came in to close out the top of the ninth and Ward grounded out to short to start....BUT WAIT! Angels manager Joe Maddon challenged the call but replays showed Ward was out anyway. Trout grounded out to short and Ohtani struck out swinging to end the game. The Sox had won it 4-0.
Hero of the Night is Michael Wacha. He blanked the Angels for 5 2/3 innings while allowing just 3 hits and 2 walks.
The Good:
JD Martinez was 2 for 4 with a home run.
Franchy Cordero was 2 for 3.
Kevin Plawecki was 1 for 3.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 2 for 3.
Jake Diekman tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Hiro Sawamura pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
The Bad:
None
The Ugly:
Trevor Story was 0 for 3 but drove in a run.
Rafael Devers was just 1 for 4 with an error but hit a solo home run.
Xander Bogaerts was 0 for 3 with a strikeout but walked and scored a run.
Alex Verdugo was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout.
Kike Hernandez was 0 for 4 but drove in a run.
Honorable Mention:
Bobby Dalbec played first base in the final two innings.
Final Thoughts:
When the Sox let Eduardo Rodriguez, Garrett Richards and Martin Perez go last off-season they essentially were replaced with James Paxton, Rich Hill and James Paxton. While Paxton has been injured and Hill has pitched decent when he's not grieving, Wacha has been outstanding. He's been the Sox best pitcher so far a month into the season and sooner or later Cora is going to have to let him go 7 innings if nothing else but to save the arms of the bullpen. Offensively the Sox only got 3 runs off Syndergaard but this is the one time that's actually par for the course. Martinez hitting that home run to put the game out of reach was big too and hopefully he starts to get hot. Its been an unusually cold spring so a lot of balls that have been outs will be home runs in about a month. The only thing to squawk about was Cora pulling Wacha too early because otherwise there isn't much to complain about. Devers made an error but neither proved costly and his home run put the Sox up for good. JBJ got a couple of doubles and it would be nice if he starts hitting as well. All in all the Sox looked good tonight and hopefully the momentum carries over to tomorrow night. The win improved the Sox to 10-14, 8 games behind the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East. The Sox look to make it two in a row against the Angels when Garrett "The Lock" Whitlock (1-1, 0.54 ERA) gets the start against Reid Detmers of Los Angeles. The game begins at 7:10 PM at Fenway Park.
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