As for the game, contrarian Red Sox fans were sure the Sox would stumble out of the gate against the first place Tampa Bay Rays. Instead the Sox beat the living daylights out of the Rays in Game 1 of today's doubleheader. Jake Bennett (5-3, 2.35 ERA) tossed 6 shutout innings off just one hit and a walk in just 65 pitches. The Boston bats woke up against Griffin Jax by pounding him for 7 runs. The Boston bats erupted for 10 runs off 15 hits with some highlights including home runs from Carlos Narvaez and Masataka Yoshida. Caleb Durbin got 3 big hits to continue his resurgence as the Sox opened the second half in style with a 10-0 victory over the Rays at Fenway Park.
Bennett got the ball in the top of the first inning and Yandy Diaz took strike three to start. Jonathan Aranda walked but Junior Caminero lined out to center. Ryan Vilade flied out to left to end the inning. Jax got the ball in the bottom of the first and Anthony Seigler grounded out to first to start. Ceddanne Rafaela struck out swinging and Wilyer Abreu struck out swinging to end the inning.
Jonny DeLuca lined out to center to start the top of the second and Chandler Simpson grounded out to short. Ben Williamson grounded out to first to end the inning. The Sox struck first in the bottom of the second as Caleb Durbin got a base hit to center. Masataka Yoshida poked a double down the third base line but Romy Gonzalez struck out swinging. Jarren Duran hit a 420 foot out to centerfield to score Durbin. Carlos Narvaez blooped a base hit over the head of Williamson to score Yoshida but Tsung-Che Cheng struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox ahead 2-0.
Taylor Walls grounded out to third to start the top of the third and Nick Fortes flied out to left. Diaz lined out to left to end the inning. Seigler poked a base hit to left to start the bottom of the third but was forced at second by Rafaela. Rafaela stole second and moved to third on the Abreu grounder to short. Durbin popped up to center to end the inning.
Aranda flied out to center to start the top of the fourth but Caminero singled to left. Vilade popped up to second and the alert Durbin snuffed out a DeLuca bunt attempt to end the inning. The Sox struck again in the bottom of the fourth as Yoshida tucked a home run inside the Pesky Pole to start. Gonzalez struck out swinging, Duran lined out to left and Narvaez grounded out to third to end the inning with the Sox up 3-0.
Duran made a great sliding catch to rob Simpson to start the top of the fifth and Williamson failed an ABS challenge on strike two only to be called out for strike three on a pitch that actually missed. Walls flied out to right to end the inning. Cheng popped up to center to start the bottom of the fifth but Seigler got a base hit to center. Vilade made a great sliding catch to rob Rafaela of a hit and Abreu struck out swinging to end the inning.
Fortes got hit with a pitch to start the top of the sixth but Diaz flied out to right. Aranda took strike three and Caminero popped up to right to end the inning. Due to what happened in the bottom of the sixth, that was it for Bennett after just 65 pitches. He allowed just a hit and a walk in six shutout innings.
Durbin was hit with a pitch to start the bottom of the sixth and Yoshida drilled a base hit to center to move Durbin to third. Gonzalez walked to load the bases and Williamson failed to come up with a grounder by Duran for a "single" to score both Durbin and Yoshida. Chris Roycroft came in to pitch to Narvaez and Carlos caught the Rays asleep with a bunt that drew in Roycroft and Aranda. Fortes threw the ball to Williamson and Ben never even put his glove out for an error to score Gonzalez, moving Duran to third. Cheng then dropped down a bunt that Fortes THOUGHT went foul but stayed on the line, scoring Duran. Seigler grounded into a double play but Rafaela doubled off the Monster to score Narvaez. Abreu was intentionally walked for some baffling reason and Durbin got a seeing eye single to right to score Rafaela. Yoshida struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox up 9-0.
With a huge lead and a doubleheader tonight, Alec Gamboa was brought in to pitch the top of the seventh. Vilade grounded out to second to start and DeLuca grounded out to third. Simpson flied out to left to end the inning. Gonzalez grounded out to short to start the bottom of the seventh and Duran struck out swinging. Narvaez then blasted his 3rd home run of the season completely out of Fenway and Cheng flied out to the centerfield wall to end the inning with the Sox ahead 10-0.
Williamson grounded out to second to start the top of the eighth but Walls doubled to left. Fortes lined out to left and Diaz grounded out to short to end the inning. Victor Mesa Jr came in for Diaz and infielder Ben Williamson came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth. Seigler flied out to left and Rafaela flied out to center, but Abreu dumped a base hit to center. Yoshida popped up to short to end the inning.
Gamboa returned to close out the top of the ninth and Aranda lined out to Gamboa to start. Caminero struck out swinging but Gonzalez couldn't dig out a throw by Durbin on a grounder to third by Vilade for a "single". DeLuca popped up to first to end the game. The Sox had won it 10-0.
Hero of The Night is Jake Bennett. He was headed toward a complete game shutout but the Sox bats made this game a laugher. Jake allowed a hit and a walk in 6 shutout innings.
The Good:
Anthony Seigler was 2 for 5.
Caleb Durbin was 3 for 4 with an rbi and 2 runs scored.
Masataka Yoshida was 3 for 5 with a home run and 3 total runs scored.
Jarren Duran was 1 for 3 with 3 rbis and a run scored.
Carlos Narvaez was 3 for 4 with a home run, 3 total rbis and 2 total runs scored.
Alec Gamboa got the save by tossing 3 shutout innings.
The Bad:
None
The Ugly:
Ceddanne Rafaela was just 1 for 5 with a strikeout but stole a base, drove in a run and scored a run.
Wilyer Abreu was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts but walked.
Romy Gonzalez was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts but walked and scored a run.
Tsung-Che Cheng was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but drove in a run.
Final Thoughts:
Many were scared they'd come out flat against Tampa and instead they came out like a buzzsaw. Bennett throws first pitch strikes every start and he's been utterly dominating lately. If Garrett Crochet comes back, the Sox will have an embarrassment of riches in the rotation. Not only that, it looks like Ranger Suarez and Connelly Early will be back soon since neither of them were seriously injured. The news gets even better as Willson Contreras will be back from suspension for Game 2 later tonight. One of the most important performances of the game was actually Alec Gamboa. The 27th man activated just for today threw 43 pitches to finish off the game, earn his first save and save the entire pitching staff sans Bennett for Game 2. There was almost nothing to complain about in this one, that's how you know the game went well. The Sox are now 15-2 since the disaster against Colorado and are back within the thick of things in the mediocre American League. A win tonight in Game 2 would simultaneously put them in the third wild card slot and get them back to .500, something no one saw possible just 23 days ago. The win improved the Sox to 47-48, no sense mentioning the standings because Game 2 is yet to play. Game 2 tonight features Eddy Rivera (0-0, 0.00 ERA) as the "opener" against Mason Englert of Tampa Bay. The game begins at 7:10 PM at Fenway Park.
No comments:
Post a Comment