If only the Boston Red Sox had a healthy Michael Wacha (8-1, 2.28 ERA) they might have had a chance this season. Wacha dominated the Baltimore Orioles in today's game, holding the Birds scoreless for nearly six innings. Then Murphy's Law kicked in as Eric Hosmer got hurt, John Schreiber and Garrett Whitlock were tagged for 3 runs combined and the Sox scored just 3 runs against O's starter Kyle Bradish who's ERA was certainly not 3. Also Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts once again came up multiple times with men on base and did absolutely nothing. Oh don't worry, the Sox still hung on. The red hot Christian Arroyo drove in a run in the ninth and the Sox needed it too beat the Orioles 4-3 at Camden Yards.
Bradish got the ball in the top of the first inning and Christian Arroyo lined out to center to start. Alex Verdugo flied out to right and Xander Bogaerts grounded out to short to end the inning. Wacha got the ball in the bottom of the first inning and Austin Hays struck out swinging to start. Adley Rutschman got a base hit to left but Anthony Santander lined out to right. Ryan Mountcastle took strike three to end the inning.
The Sox blew a rally in the top of the second as Rafael Devers grounded out to first to start. JD Martinez doubled to left and Eric Hosmer was plunked, but Kike Hernandez flied out to left. Jarren Duran struck out swinging on a pitch over his head to end the inning. Ramon Urias got a base hit to left off the glove of Bogaerts to begin the bottom of the second but Jorge Mateo forced him at second. Ryan McKenna grounded into a double play to end the inning.
As usual the Sox blew a rally in the top of the third as Kevin Plawecki grounded out to short to start. Arroyo and Verdugo stroked back to back base hits but Bogaerts just shrugged his shoulders as he hit into a double play to end the inning. Tyler Nevin flied out to right to start the bottom of the third before Robinson Chirinos popped up to short. Hays grounded back to the mound to end the inning.
Devers got a base hit to center to start the top of the fourth but Martinezx struck out swinging. Hosmer moved Devers to second on a grounder to the mound but Hernandez took strike three to end the inning. Rutschman flied out to right to start the bottom of the fourth before Santander lined out to center. Mountcastle singled to right and Urias grounded out to third to end the inning.
Somehow the Sox struck first in the top of the fifth as Duran flied out to center to start. Plawecki and Arroyo both dumped base hits to right before Verdugo joined the parade by hitting one to right as well to score Kevin. Naturally with runners at the corners Bogaerts popped up weakly to left and Devers struck out swinging to end the inning. The days of Martinez, Boagerts and Devers driving in runs are long gone for various reasons as the Sox led just 1-0.
All of a sudden Hosmer collapsed in a heap trying to run out of the dugout and had to be carried out on a stretcher, loaded into an ambulance and rushed to the local ICU. Bobby Dalbec took over at first for Hosmer in the bottom of the fifth and Mateo took strike three to start. McKenna was also frozen for strike three and Nevin lined out to right to end the inning.
Somehow the Sox actually did something in the top of the sixth as Martinez singled to left to start. Dalbec struck out swinging on a pitch headed to the backstop but Hernandez smacked a home run just over the wall in left to increase the lead. Duran struck out swinging on a pitch that bounced in the dirt and that was it for Bradish. Joey Krehbiel came in to get Plawecki to fly out to center to end the inning with the Sox up 3-0.
Chirinos popped up to short to start the bottom of the sixth but Hays got a base hit to right. Rutschman hit one up the elevator shaft but Santander walked. Despite being at just 79 pitches, Sox manager Alex Cora reverted back to last year's ways and yanked Wacha without completing the sixth inning. John Schreiber came in and Mountcastle struck out swinging to end the inning. Wacha had thrown 5 2/3 shutout innings allowing just 4 hits and a walk but apparently that wasn't good enough for a last place team.
Arroyo struck out swinging to start the top of the seventh but Verdugo lined out to center. Bogaerts grounded out to second to end the inning. The O's clawed back in the bottom of the seventh as Urias got a base hit to right to start. Mateo got a base hit to right and Duran decided to jump on the ball and wrestle it for an error to move the runners over. Kyle Stowers pinch hit for McKenna and grounded out to second to score Urias, moving Mateo to third. Rougned Odor pinch hit for Nevin and hit one up the elevator shaft but a wild pitch scored Mateo to cut the lead. Chirinos struck out swinging to end the inning but the O's were back in it down 3-2.
Ryan Baker came in to pitch the top of the eighth and Devers lined out to center to start. Martinez and Dalbec both struck out swinging to end the inning. Garrett "The Lock" Whitlock came in for the nottom of the eighth and Hays grounded out to third to start. Rutschman singled to right but Santander went down swinging. Mountcastle flied out to right to end the inning.
The Sox got a big run in the top of the ninth although Hernandez struck out swinging to start. Duran caught the O's asleep with a bunt single to second and took third on the base hit to right by Plawecki. Arroyo chopped a double over the third base bag to score Duran but Verdugo lined out to short. Once again with two men on Bogaerts grounded out to short to end the inning with the Sox up 4-2.
The O's refused to go quietly in the bottom of the ninth although Urias struck out swinging to start. Mateo tripled into the left field corner and scored on the Mateo grounder to first to cut the lead. Odor lined out to a running Hernandex to end the game. The Sox had won it 4-3.
Hero of the Night is Christian Arroyo. His rbi double in the ninth was the difference in the game.
The Good:
Alex Verdugo was 2 for 5 with an rbi.
JD Martinez was 2 for 4 with a run scored.
Kevin Plawecki was 2 for 4 with a run scored.
Michael Wacha earned the win by tossing 5 2/3 shutout innings
The Bad:
Xander Bogaerts was 0 for 5
Bobby Dalbec was 0 for 2 with 2 strikeouts.
John Schreiber got tagged for 2 runs in 1 1/3 innings
The Ugly:
Rafael Devers was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout.
Eric Hosmer was 0 for 1 with a hit by pitch before leaving the game.
Kike Hernandez was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts but the hit was a 2 run home run.
Jarren Duran was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts and an error but scored a run.
Garrett Whitlock earned his fifth save but allowed a run in two innings.
Final Thoughts:
Once again a win felt like a loss as not only did Hosmer get hurt but the trio of Martinez, Devers and Bogaerts don't drive in runs anymore. Last night the Sox had 19 hits and 10 runs mostly without the contributions of them. Today Bogaerts and Devers went 1 for 9 with a strikeout while at least Martinez got a couple of hits. On top of that, Schreiber and Whitlock both got tagged for a combined three runs. If your bullpen and best hitters can't get it done, that's not a recipe for success. Plus for some reason Cora let Kutter Crawford take the beating of his life yesterday yet yanked Wacha while he was pitching s shutout after 79 pitches today. Nothing is going right apart from the sudden resurgence of Verdugo and Arroyo and you can't expect them to carry the offense for the next forty games. Thankfully the season is nearing its end and somebody has to pay for this disaster. Either Cora, Bloom or both have to go because what they're doing isn't working. The saddest part about the team falling apart in July is so did the New York Yankees. They've gone 3-13 the last two weeks and the Toronto Blue Jays are only 7 games behind them. If its any consolation to the Sox playing out the string in September its watching the Yankees collapse. The win improved the Sox to 60-61, 5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the third wild card. Tomorrow night is the Little League Classic in Williamsport and for some reason the Sox and Orioles are tabbed to play in front of a bunch of kids. Nick Pivetta (9-9, 4.28 ERA) takes on Dean Kremer of Baltimore. The game begins at 7:10 PM at Muncy Bank Ballpark.
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