Looks like the Boston Red Sox bats finally woke up. Recently they've been scoring more runs but the pitching hasn't held up, tonight it did. Connelly Early (5-2, 2.95 ERA) tossed one of his best games of the season against one of the best teams in the league. Early held the Atlanta Braves to just 4 hits in 7 shutout innings as the bats finally woke up. The Sox rode a 6 run bottom of the fourth with Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu both driving in a pair of runs. Marcelo Mayer drove in a run in the bottom of the seventh and a suddenly hot Jarren Duran pounded yet another home run in the bottom of the eighth. In one of their only complete games of the season, the Sox cruised to an 8-0 victory over Atlanta at Fenway Park.
Early got the ball in the top of the first inning and Ronald Acuna Jr walked to start. Acuna stole second and Mauricio Dubon reached when Marcelo Mayer booted a grounder for an error. Matt Olson popped up to third and Ozzie Albies grounded into a double play to end the inning. Elder got the ball in the bottom of the first and Jarren Duran flied out to right to start. Ceddanne Rafaela got a base hit to right and promptly stole second. Wilyer Abreu grounded out to third but Willson Contreras got a base hit to left. Chad Epperson waived Rafaela home despite Ceddanne not even around third yet and he was thrown out easily to end the inning.
Austin Riley walked to start the top of the second and Michael Harris struck out swinging. Jorge Mateo got a base hit to right but Ha-Seong Kim flied out to center. Chadwick Tromp struck out swinging to end the inning. Masataka Yoshida flied out to center to start the bottom of the second and Mickey Gasper flied out to left. Nick Sogard dropped down a bunt and Elder threw the ball away allowing Nick to reach third. Naturally with a man on third, Mayer flied out to right to end the inning.
Acuna struck out swinging to start the top of the third and Dubon lined out to left. Olson walked but Albies grounded out to second to end the inning. Isiah Kiner-Falefa grounded out to short to start the bottom of the third but Duran got a base hit to center. Rafaela got a base hit to center and naturally with a runner in scoring position, Abreu lined out to left. Contreras struck out swinging to end the inning as Fenway booed like crazy.
Riley struck out swinging to start the top of the fourth and Harris grounded out to second. Mateo got a base hit to left and Kim flied out to center to end the inning. Yoshida got a base hit to left to start the bottom of the fourth and Gasper walked. Sogard dropped down a bunt to move the runners over but naturally with runners in scoring position....Olson booted an easy grounder by Mayer to score Yoshida and move Gasper to third. Somehow Kiner got a base hit to left to score Gasper and Duran got a base hit to left to load the bases. Rafaela got a base hit to left and Tromp booted it to score Mayer and Kiner, moving Duran to third. Dylan Dodd came in to pitch and a wild pitch moved Rafaela to second, then Abrey got a base hit to center to score both runners. Abreu stole second but Conteras popped up to short. Yoshida lined out to second to end the inning with the Sox up 6-0.
Tromp flied out to right to start the top of the fifth and Acuna grounded out to second. Dubon flied out to center to end the inning. Carlos Carrasco came in to pitch the bottom of the fifth and Gasper lined out to right to start. Sogard grounded out to second but Mayer got a base hit to right. Kiner popped up to second to end the inning.
Olson lined out to center to start the top of the sixth but Albies got a base hit to right. Riley and Harris both struck out swinging to end the inning. Duran got a base hit to right to start the bottom of the sixth but Rafaela flied out to center. Abreu lined out to left but Contreras took strike three to end the inning.
Early returned for one final inning in the top of the seventh as Mateo grounded out to third to start. Kim struck out swinging but Tromp doubled off the glove of Abreu. Acuna lined out to right to end the inning. Early was awesome, pitching 7 shutout innings allowing just 4 hits and 3 walks.
The Sox struck again in the bottom of the seventh as Yoshida lined out to left to start. Gasper got a base hit to center then moved to second on the grounder to second by Sogard. Mayer got a base hit to right to score Gasper but Kiner struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox up 7-0.
Ryan Watson came in to pitch the top of the eighth and Dubon got a base hit to center to start. Olson lined out to right but Albies walked. Riley flied out to center and Harris lined out to second to end the inning. The Sox put the exclamation point on in the bottom of the eighth when Duran jacked his 8th home run of the season to start. Rafaela grounded out to first, Abreu also grounded out to first and Contreras grounded out to third to end the inning with the Sox ahead 8-0.
Watson returned to close out the top of the ninth and Mateo flied out to center to start. Kim struck out swinging and Tromp lined out to third to end the game. The Sox had won it 8-0.
Hero of The Night is Connelly Early. He tossed 7 shutout innings allowing 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 7
The Good:
Jarren Duran was 4 for 5 with a home run and 2 total runs scored.
Ceddanne Rafaela was 3 for 5 with 2 rbis and a run scored.
Mickey Gasper was 1 for 3 with a walk and 2 runs scored.
Nick Sogard was 1 for 3.
Marcelo Mayer was 2 for 4 with an rbi and a run scored.
Ryan Watson tossed 2 scoreless innings.
The Bad:
The Ugly:
Wilyer Abreu was just 1 for 5 but drove in 2 runs.
Willson Contreras was just 1 for 5 with 2 strikeouts.
Masataka Yoshida was just 1 for 4 but drove in a run.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but drove in a run and scored.
Final Thoughts:
Now that's more like it. Amazing what happens when your leadoff hitter does his job and there aren't three automatic outs in the lineup. Not that Nick Sogard, Mickey Gasper and Isiah Kiner-Falefa are going to be all-stars but compared to what Trevor Story, Caleb Durbin and the team of Carlos Narvaez & Connor Wong were doing, its an improvement. Duran's resurgence was badly needed with the season slipping away and the addition by subtraction has gotten the Sox more runs lately. Connelly Early might not get the Cy Young award with too many no-decisions but AL Rookie of The Year is definitely in play. Long starts like his shorten the game and save the bullpen which was badly needed. Being 8 games under .500 at the end of May would normally be a death knell but this team would be a hell of a lot better if they consistently scored runs. They've scored 14 runs the past two games and while tomorrow's starter makes it unlikely they'll score a lot in the third game, but its better than usual. The Sox have a tall task if they want to take the series against Atlanta tomorrow, old pal Chris Sale awaits. Standing in his way is Peyton Tolle (2-2, 2.45 ERA) of the Red Sox. The game begins at 4:10 PM at Fenway Park.
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