As for the game, don't look now but the Sox have won five straight games including a four game sweep of the hapless Texas Rangers. Today the Sox had to call up Josh Winckowski as an emergency after Kutter Crawford was scratched with a bad shoulder. The Rangers scored two first inning runs off Winckowski but that was all they got. Trevor Story belted a go-ahead 3 run homer in the bottom of the first and Xander Bogaerts drove in a run in the bottom of the second. The amounted for all of the scoring the whole game. The much maligned Sox defense played their best game all season by making several great defensive plays, most notably rookie Triston Casas and Trevor Story. Casas got his first big league hit and the Sox bullpen stepped up. The quartet of Kaleb Ort, Jeurys Familia, Matt Strahm and John Schreiber locked it down the rest of the game. Kaleb Ort earned his first big league victory as the Sox beat the Rangers 5-2 at Fenway Park.
Winckowski got the ball in the top of the first and walked Marcus Semien on four pitches not even close to start. Corey Seager popped up to left but Semien swiped second. Nathaniel Lowe effortlessly singled to right to put runners at the corners and Adolis Garcia pounded a ground rule double into the right field corner to score Semien. Rookie Triston Casas made a great play to rob Jonah Heim of a hit but Lowe scored to increase the lead. Leody Tavares grounded out to first to end the inning with the Rangers up 2-0.
Dane Dunning got the ball in the bottom of the first and Tommy Pham got a base hit to center to start. Alex Verdugo followed with a seeing eye single to right and Xander Bogaerts hit a ground rule double into the bullpen to score Pham. Rafael Devers popped up to third in foul territory but Trevor Story smashed his 16th home run of the season into the Monster Seats to put Boston on top. Casas made his Sox debut at the plate by flying out to the right field warning track and Rob Refsnyder drew a walk. Refsnyder swiped second but Franchy Cordero struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox up 4-2.
Kole Calhoun flied out to right to start the top of the second before Ezequiel Duran grounded back to the mound. Bubba Thompson struck out swinging to end the inning. Connor Wong led off the bottom of the second by drawing a walk before Pham got hit on the elbow. Verdugo ripped a fly out to center to move Wong to third and Bogaerts ripped a base hit to right to score Connor. Devers popped up to first in foul territory and Story struck out swinging on a pitch down and away to end the inning with the Sox ahead 5-2.
Semien led off the top of the third by grounding out to third but Seager drew a walk. Lowe grounded back to the mound to move Seager to second but Casas made a great play to rob Garcia of a single to end the inning. Casas grounded out to first to start the bottom of the third before Refsnyder dumped a base hit to left. Cordero beat out a double play ball to keep the inning going and Wong worked a walk. Pham forced Wong at second to end the inning.
Winckowski struck out Heim swinging to start the top of the fourth but Tavares singled to left. Calhoun walked on four pitches not even close but Duran struck out swinging on a nasty sinker. Thompson grounded out to third to end the inning. That was it for Winckowski as he lasted just 4 innings while allowing 2 runs. He struggled to last this long but kept the damage to a minimum.
Verdugo singled to right to start the bottom of the fourth but Bogaerts beat out a double play ball....BUT WAIT! Twins manager Rocco Baldelli challenged the call and Bogaerts was out on the double play. Devers popped up weakly to left to end the inning.
Kaleb Ort came in to pitch the top of the fifth and Semien flied out to left to start. Naturally Ort walked Seager but Corey only made it to second on the grounder to third by Lowe. Garcia flied out to right to end the inning. Story singled past the lunging Semien and somehow stretched a double as he beat Seager's tag by a hair. Rangers interim manager Tony Beasley finally took out Dunning and John King came in to pitch. Casas got his first major league hit off the glove of Seager but was doubled off second on a bullet to Corey by Refsnyder. Naturally Cordero struck out swinging to end the inning, another failure by Sox manager Alex Cora to move runners over.
Ort returned for the top of the sixth and Story made a great jumping catch to rob Heim of a hit to start. Tavares lined a base hit to right but Ort blew away Calhoun with a 97 mph fastball. That was it for Ort as Jeurys Familia was brought in but Tavares was thrown out at second trying to steal to end the inning. Wong grounded out to short to start the bottom of the sixth before Pham also grounded out to short. Verdugo grounded out to first to end the inning.
Familia returned for the top of the seventh and Duran grounded out to short to start. Thompson struck out swinging and Semien lined out to third to end the inning. Bogaerts singled down the right field line to start the bottom of the seventh but once AGAIN Devers banged into a double play. Story lined a base hit to center but Casas grounded out to short to end the inning.
Matt Strahm came in to pitch the top of the eighth and Seager grounded out to short to start. Bogaerts made a great play to rob Lowe of a hit and Garcia popped up to center to end the inning. Jonathan Hernandez came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and Refsnyder ripped a base hit to center to start. Rob moved to second on the grounder to second by Cordero but Wong drew a walk. A wild pitch moved the runners over but naturally Pham struck out swinging. Verdugo swung at ball four in the dirt for strike three to end the inning. Once again the Sox did absolutely nothing after the second inning.
John Schreiber came in to close out the top the of the ninth and Heim took strike three on the inside corner to start. Tavares lined out to right and Calhoun took strike three to end the game. The Sox had won it 5-2.
Hero of the Night is Trevor Story. His 3 run homer put the Sox up for good and he made several defensive gems.
The Good:
Alex Verdugo was 2 for 5 with a run scored.
Xander Bogaerts was 3 for 4 with 2 rbis and a run scored.
Rob Refsnyder was 2 for 3 with a walk.
Connor Wong walked 3 times and scored a run.
Kaleb Ort got his first big league victory by tossing 1 1/2 scoreless innings.
Jeurys Familia tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Matt Strahm pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
The Bad:
Rafael Devers was 0 for 4.
Franchy Cordero was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
The Ugly:
Tommy Pham was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but was hit with a pitch and scored a run.
Triston Casas was just 1 for 4.
Josh Winckowski lasted just 4 innings allowing 3 hits and 3 walks but allowed just 2 runs.
Final Thoughts:
The Sox have no chance in hell to get back into playoff contention but if they finish September strong, at least there will be hope for the future. The Sox may have something if Casas can hit as well as he can field but there's a lot of holes to fill, primarily on the pitching side. Things worked out today but the rag-tags aren't going to get it done the whole month. Tanner Houck being out for the season gives them no hope of going on a run but they'll try to finish strong anyway. Bogaerts seems to have woken up now that the pressure is off and Story is back too little too late. Still, now all they can hope for is to get above .500 and stay there. The Sox may have a decent bench if they can hang on to Reese McGuire, Refsnyder and Christian Arroyo and would have a good starting nine if certain players perform better next year, but the pitching is dreadful. The only question now is will the Yankees continue to collapse? Unfortunately the Sox may hurt that cause because they just happen to be going to Tampa Bay tomorrow. The win improved the Sox to 67-68, good for last place in the AL East. The Sox now travel to Tampa for a three game set with the Rays. Tomorrow afternoon the Sox play a Labor Day matinee with Michael Wacha (10-1, 2.56 ERA) going against Captain TBD of Tampa. The game begins at 4:10 PM at Tropicana Field.
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