It was a great night for Boston sports. The Boston Celtics defeated the Philadelphia Sixers in Game 2 of their second round NBA playoff series and the Boston Red Sox won their fifth straight game and third in a row against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays committed four errors throughout the game which contributed to their downfall. Nick Pivetta (2-2, 4.99 ERA) held the vaunted Toronto offense to just 3 runs in 6 solid innings of work. Meanwhile the Sox rallied down 2-0 to tie the game in the fifth and chase Toronto starter Alek Manoah. Trailing 3-2 in the sixth, the Sox tied the game on a Triston Casas rbi single and jumped ahead when Enmanuel Valdez hit a ball off the glove of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The Sox added to the lead in the later innings and came away with an 8-3 victory over Toronto at Fenway Park.
Pivetta got the ball in the top of the first inning and things went bad right from the start as Rafael Devers booted a routine grounder by George Springer for an error. Bo Bichette forced Springer at second before Vladimir Guerrero Jr lined out to left. Matt Chapman flied out to center to end the inning. Manoah got the ball in the bottom of the first inning and Alex Verdugo struck out swinging to start. Masataka Yoshida grounded out to first and Justin Turner grounded out to short to end the inning.
The Jays struck first in the top of the second inning as Daulton Varsho pounded a home run all the way to the Klingon Homeworld to put the Jays up. Alejandro Kirk grounded out to short before Whit Merrifield did the same. Santiago Espinal doubled to center but Kevin Kiermaier took strike three to end the inning with the Jays up 1-0.
The Sox failed to respond in the bottom of the second as Devers took strike three to start. Jarren Duran walked but Triston Casas forced him at second. Enmanuel Valdez struck out swinging to end the inning.
The Jays struck again in the top of the fourth as Springer struck out swinging to start. Bichette flied out to center but Guerrero Jr hit a home run all the way to Paraguay. Chapman flied out to right to end the inning with the Jays up 2-0.
Kike Hernandez lined out to center to start the bottom of the third before Connor Wong grounded out to third. Verdugo singled to right and Yoshida flied out to center to end the inning.
Varsho singled to right to start the top of the fourth and took third when Wong threw the ball four pitch to Kirk away for an error. Merrifield struck out swinging and Espinal banged into a double play to end the inning. The Sox tried to fight back in the bottom of the fourth as Turner lined out to first to start. Devers then lined a ball off Manoah and Kirk threw the ball away to allow Rafael to advance to second. A wild pitch moved Devers to third and he scored on the Duran doubled to center. Manoah threw a pickoff throw away and Casas made him pay with a base hit to right to score Duran to tie the game. Hernandez lined out to left and Wong grounded out to third to end the inning with the game tied 2-2.
The Jays answered in the top of the fifth as Kiermaier doubled to center to start. Springer flied out to center to move Kevin to third and he scored in the Pivetta balk to put the Jays back in the lead. Bichette struck out swinging and Guerrero Jr grounded out to short to end the inning with the Jays up 3-2.
The Sox took advantage of bad defense in the bottom of the fifth as Verdugo popped up to third to start. Yoshida reached on an error by Espinal and Turner doubled to center. Devers popped up to third but Duran was plunked to load the bases. Casas stepped up with a base hit to left to score Yoshida with the tying run. Valdez then hit a routine grounder OFF THE GLOVE OF GUERRERO! Turner and Duran scored to give the Sox the lead on the "hit" by Valdez and Enmanuel swiped second base. Hernandez grounded out to third to end the inning with the Sox up 5-3.
Pivetta returned for the top of the sixth inning and Chapman struck out swinging to start. Varsho went down hacking and Kirk grounded out to second to end the inning. Pivetta was solid, tossing 6 innings of 3 run ball while allowing 5 hits and a walk and striking out six batters.
The Sox got another run in the bottom of the sixth with Anthony Bass now on the mound. Wong doubled to left before moving to third on the Verdugo grounder to first. Yoshida lined a ball off Bass to score Wong to increase the lead. Turner singled to center and that was it for Bass. Trevor Richards came in and Devers grounded out to first, but Duran walked. Casas flied out to dead center to end the inning with the Sox up 6-3.
Chris Martin came in to pitch the top of the seventh and Merrifield took strike three to start. Espinal grounded out to short and Kiermaier struck out swinging to end the inning. The Sox got another run in the bottom of the seventh as Valdez struck out swinging to start. Hernandez dumped a base hit to right but Wong struck out swinging. Verdugo walked and Yoshida doubled home Hernandez. Turner walked to load the bases but Nate Pearsonw as brought in to face Devers. Devers flied out to center to end the inning with the Sox ahead 7-3.
Kutter Crawford came in to pitch the top of the eighth inning and Springer grounded out to short to start. Bichette grounded out to second but Guerrero Jr singled to center. Chapman walked but Varsho grounded out to first to end the inning. The Sox wrapped up the scoring in the bottom of the eighth as Duran popped up to second to start. Duran dumped a base hit to left and Varsho threw the ball away to allow Duran to move to second. Valdez flied out to left but Hernandez lined a base hit up the middle to score Casas. Wong struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox up 8-3.
Crawford returned for the top of the ninth and Kirk grounded out to second to start. Suddenly Crawford keeled over grabbing his hamstring and had to be hauled off on a gurney, loaded into an ambulance and rushed to Mass General's ICU. Ryan Brasier came in to pitch and Merrifield grounded out to second before Espinal flied out to center to end the game. The Sox had won it 8-3.
Hero of the Night is Enmanuel Valdez. His two run single put the Sox up for good in the fifth inning.
The Good:
Masataka Yoshida was 2 for 5 with 2 rbis and a run scored.
Justin Turner was 2 for 4 with a walk and a run scored.
Jarren Duran was 1 for 2 with 2 walks, an rbi and 2 total runs scored.
Triston Casas was 3 for 5 with 2 rbis and a run scored.
Kike Hernandez was 2 for 5 with an rbi and a run scored.
Nick Pivetta got the win with six solid innings allowing 3 runs off 5 hits and a walk while striking out 6.
Chris Martin pitched a scoreless seventh inning.
Kutter Crawford tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Ryan Brasier got the final two outs of the ninth inning,.
The Bad:
None
The Ugly:
Alex Verdugo was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but walked.
Rafael Devers was just 1 for 5 with a strikeout and an error but scored a run.
Connor Wong was just 1 for 5 with an error and 2 strikeouts but scored a run.
Final Thoughts:
If it wasn't for the Crawford injury this would have been the perfect night at Fenway. Everyone on offense got at least one hit including the rookies Casas, Valdez and technically Yoshida. Valdez and Duran have been surprise sparks in emergency roles after guys went down and Wong is heating up as well. Ironically the only one in a slump is their best hitter, Devers. That's a bad sign for the league because once he heats up, they're going to be tough to beat. Pivetta had another solid start and again, if it wasn't for Crawford getting hurt, this would have been perfect. The Sox were 3-16 against Toronto last year and have gone 3-0 against them this year. Hopefully the Sox can keep the momentum going because they're fighting back in every game it seems. They were down 2-0 and 3-2 before rallying to take the lead they would not relinquish. Who would have thought the Sox would be one win away from sweeping the the team they couldn't beat last year? The win improved the Sox to 18-14, 7.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the AL East. The Sox look to make it six wins in a row and a four game sweep over the Jays tomorrow evening when Brayan Bello (0-1, 6.57 ERA) gets the start for Boston against Kevin Gausman of Toronto. The game begins at 6:10 PM at Fenway Park.
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