Things are looking up for the Boston Red Sox already. The Chad Tracy era is now 2-0 thanks mostly to Ranger Suarez (2-2, 3.09 ERA) pitching the game of his life against the Toronto Blue Jays. Suarez was almost literally unhittable, tossing 8 shutout innings allowing only 1 hit. Meanwhile the Sox finally look like a competent hitting team by getting to Dylan Cease for 4 runs before knocking him out in the sixth inning. Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu and Caleb Durbin all hit two out rbis. Carlos Narvaez provided the exclamation point with a home run and Greg Weissert slammed the door in the ninth. The Sox had won their third straight game by beating the Jays 5-0 at the Skydome.
Cease got the ball in the top of the first inning and Jarren Duran lined out to center to start. Willson Contreras grounded out to short and Roman Anthony struck out swinging to end the inning. Suarez got the ball in the bottom of the first and Myles Straw struck out swinging to start. Ernie Clement popped up to second and Vladimir Guerrero Jr struck out swinging to end the inning.
Wilyer Abreu popped up to short to start the top of the second and Trevor Story struck out swinging. Marcelo Mayer got a base hit in the hole at second but Ceddanne Rafaela struck out swinging to end the inning. Kazuma Okamoto flied out to right to start the bottom of the second and Lenyn Sosa flied out to right. Elroy Jimenez took strike three to end the inning.
Carlos Narvaez struck out swinging to start the top of the third before Caleb Durbin grounded out to first. Duran struck out swinging to end the inning. Jesus Sanchez struck out swinging to start the bottom of the third but Davis Schneider walked. Old friend Tyler Heineman grounded into a double play to end the inning.
The Sox struck first in the top of the fourth as Contreras got a base hit to right to start. Anthony lined out to left but Abreu walked. Story hit one up the elevator shaft but Mayer got a base hit to center to score Contreras. Rafaela grounded out to third to end the inning with the Sox up 1-0.
Straw lined out to left to start the bottom of the fourth and Clement did the same. Guerrero Jr struck out swinging to end the inning.
The Sox struck again in the top of the fifth although Narvaez grounded out to second to start. Durbin walked but Duran forced him at second. Contreras was plunked and Anthony hit a ground ball to first but Cease fell down so Guerrero couldn't make the play. Duran scored and Contreras took third, then Willson scored on the double to right by Abreu. Story flied out to center to end the inning with the Sox up 3-0.
Okamoto grounded out to third to start the bottom of the fifth before Sosa flied out to right. Jimenez struck out swinging to end the inning.
Mayer walked to start the top of the sixth and Rafaela got a base hit to left. Narvaez grounded into a double play but Durbin blooped a base hit to left to score Mayer and chase Cease from the game. Joe Manitply came in to face Duran and Jarren lined out to left to end the inning with the Sox up 4-0.
Naturally Sanchez doubled to left to break up the no-hitter to start the bottom of the sixth. Schneider and Heineman both struck out swinging, then Straw flied out to right to end the inning.
Contreras struck out swinging to start the top of the seventh and Anthony went down hacking as well. Abreu got a base hit in the hole at second to chase Mantiply and Chase Lee came in to face Story. Trevor flied out to right to end the inning. Clement hit one up the elevator shaft to start the bottom of the seventh and Guerrero Jr popped up to first. Okamoto flied out to center to end the inning.
The Sox wrapped up the scoring in the top of the eighth as Mayer grounded out to first to start. Rafaela struck out swinging but Narvaez crushed his second home run of the season to increase the lead. Durbin popped up to short to end the inning with the Sox up 5-0.
Suarez returned for one final inning in the bottom of the eighth and Sosa struck out swinging to start. Jimenez popped up to third and Sanchez took strike three to end the inning. Suarez went God mode, facing just 1 batter over the minimum allowing 1 hit and a walk while striking out 10 in 8 innings.
"Hey Breslow, that was for Cora!" - Suarez
Tommy Nance came in to pitch the top of the ninth and Duran grounded out to second to start. Contreras popped up to third but Anthony walked. Abreu flied out to left to end the inning. Greg Weissert came in to close out the bottom of the ninth and Yohendrick Pinango pinch hit for Schneider. Pinango flied out to center and Heineman grounded out to short. Daulton Varsho pinch hit for Straw and doubled to center, but Clement popped up to first to end the game. The Sox had won it 5-0.
Sox win
Hero Suarez
Hero of The Night is Ranger Suarez. He tossed 8 shutout innings allowing just 1 hit and a walk while striking out 10.
The Good:
Wilyer Abreu was 2 for 4 with a walk and an rbi.
Marcelo Mayer was 2 for 3 with a walk, rbi and a run scored.
Caleb Durbin was 1 for 3 with a walk and an rbi.
Greg Weissert pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
The Bad:
Trevor Story was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
The Ugly:
Jarren Duran was 0 for 5 with a strikeout but scored a run.
Willson Contreras was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but was hit with a pitch and scored 2 runs.
Roman Anthony was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts but walked and drove in a run.
Ceddanne Rafaela was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
Carlos Narvaez was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but the one hit was a home run.
Final Thoughts:
We're two games into the Chad Tracy era and already things are looking up. Four of the five runs the Sox drove in were with 2 outs which is a HUGE improvement over the first month of the season. Obviously its way too early to judge after two games but if the Sox end up going on a run and get back in the pennant race, it'll beg the question of if Alex Cora and his staff had phoned it in. They looked like they couldn't hit a beach ball against most teams they faced and now they're getting clutch, two out hits and from guys that struggled. Marcelo Mayer has picked it up lately and Durbin may not be hitting home runs against non position players but at least he doesn't look completely lost. The only one still in a rut is Trevor Story and ownership didn't take kindly to him taking the day off in protest. There was a story today that the Sox front office consider Story "past his prime". If this is another player vs front office saga like last year, we know how this ends. One thing to point out is ownership also put another hit piece out questioning Cora and his now fired staff since other teams took Rob Refsnyder, Kyle Harrison, James Tibbs and David Hamilton and made something out of them. Even Vaughn Grissom is having a resurgence in Los Angeles although its just 25 at-bats. The bottom line is we're going to find out one way or another who the problem was, but one thing is for sure, Suarez was outstanding tonight. So far he's either been batting practice or Cy Young, no in-between....kind of like the left handed Venezuelan version of Clay Buchholz. Between the clutch hits and an outstanding pitching performance, things are looking up. The Sox look to make it four wins in a row and two straight against the Blue Jays tomorrow night when Peyton Tolle (0-0, 1.50 ERA) takes on Trey Yesavage of Toronto. The game begins at 7:07 PM at the Skydome.
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