Orioles - 101 300 010 000 000 03 - 9 15 2 Red Sox - 000 140 010 000 000 00 - 6 16 3Orioles DH Chris Davis struck out in his first five plate appearances, then hit into a double play. He finished the day 0-for-8. But he also threw two scoreless innings, and was the winning pitcher.
Darnell McDonald pinch-ran for David Ortiz in the eighth ining and scored the tying run. He came in to pitch the top of the seventeenth and allowed a three-run home run to Adam Jones. McDonald batted in the bottom half with a chance to re-tie the game, but he grounded into a game-ending double play. (McDonald also pitched an inning on August 26, 2011, in a 15-5 loss to Oakland.)
Bobby Valentine must have assumed that if the other team puts a position player in to pitch, that he had to do it also. If Baltimore if going to waive the white flag, that is no reason for the Red Sox to do the same. (In his post-game conference, Valentine said something like it wasn't fair to the Orioles to have an actual pitcher still out there for the Sox. I'm waiting for the exact quote before popping off.)
This was the first game in which position players pitched for both teams since an end-of-the-season game in 1925. The last game in which both the winning and losing pitchers were position players was September 28, 1902. That was the final game of the season, and the White Sox and Browns used only position players to pitch the entire game.
Each position player was his team's ninth pitcher of the day. The 18 pitchers used was a record for a game at Fenway Park, and one shy of the MLB record of 19, set by the Yankees and Rays in last year's final regular season game.
Davis was the first player to go 0-for-8 and end up as the winning pitcher since Rube Waddell won a 20-inning complete game against the Red Sox on July 4, 1905.
The teams combined to throw 570 pitches. It was the most pitches thrown in an American league game since a Red Sox/White Sox game in July 2006 (see below).
It was the longest Red Sox game by innings since July 9, 2006, when they lost 6-5 in 19 innings to the White Sox on the day before the All-Star break.
Adrian Gonzalez struck out on three pitches against Davis in the seventeenth, ending an 0-for-8 afternoon. Gonzalez is the first Red Sox player in history to go 0-for-8 from the cleanup spot. (Here is a list of the eight Boston players who have gone 0-for-at-least-8 since 1918; two of them happened in that 2006 game!)
The Orioles put their leadoff man on base in the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and fifteenth innings. The Red Sox bullpen and infield kept all of those runners from advancing. Boston turned a total of six double plays in the game, including four in extra innings.
Boston nearly won the game in the sixteenth when Marlon Byrd tried to score from first on Mike Aviles's two-out double to left-center. The ball beat Byrd to the plate and he went in hard, but could not jar the ball loose.
Clay Buchholz (3.2-7-5-4-4, 81) was dreadful (again), allowing two solo home runs to J.J. Hardy and a three-run bomb to Robert Andino. Buchholz has allowed at least five runs in all six of his starts this year, and his ERA is up to 9.09. No Red Sox pitcher has given up at least five runs in six consecutive starts since Red Ruffing (1925).
Down 5-0, Ryan Sweeney singled home Mike Aviles in the fourth. Sweeney finished the day with four hits; Aviles had three.
In the fifth, Will Middlebrooks crushed a grand slam over everything in left. Middlebrooks is the first Red Sox player in history with an extra-base hit in each of his first three games in the major leagues.
The Boston bullpen (not including McDonald) allowed one unearned run in 12.1 innings.
It took 39 innings, but the Orioles completed a three-game sweep of the Red Sox for the first time since June 10-12, 1994 - Will Middlebrooks was only five years old - and moved into first place in the AL East. The Red Sox (11-16, 7.5 GB) have lost five consecutive games, and have dropped 10 of their last 11 home games.
Aviles, SSBuchholz has allowed at least five runs in each of his five starts this season: 7, 5, 6, 5, 6. His ERA is 8.69 and his WHIP is 1.897. But there is some good news! ... He's 3-1!
Sweeney, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Gonzalez, 1B
Ortiz, DH
Ross, LF
Saltalamacchia, C
Middlebrooks, 3B
Byrd, CF
The Red Sox are #2 in the AL with 5.3 runs per game, but seven games of 10+ runs have helped that average. In exactly half of the Red Sox's games this year (13 of 26), they have scored three runs or fewer.
14 comments:
Does Cook need to or did have surgery done on any muscles?
It's no surprise that Aaron "Beaker" Cook was placed on the DL. Lefty Andrew Miller, whose rehab stint ended today, has been called up.
There is nothing left to say.
Brutal
Closed the book on BV for me. The Orioles conceded that game but Bobby couldn't give it back fast enough. Putting MacDonald out there to pitch was malpractice. Which doesn't excuse the Sox not being able to hit a position player's pitching - but still.
"Which doesn't excuse the Sox not being able to hit a position player's pitching - but still."
But still what? Did the Red Sox lose that game because of Valentine? Absolutely not. They had a million chances.
I've considered a lot of the complaining about Valentine from the "masses" to be dumb. (Like complaining that he should've taken Buchholz out after 6 innings during his previous start, because he was supposed to be psychic and know things would blow up after 70 pitches.)
But I've started to come around to the idea that--while the team's main problem is that a lot of the players just aren't that good, or aren't playing to their full potential--Valentine is making things worse. There really do seem to be key moments in games where had he made a more competent choice, the Sox might've won the game.
(In yesterday's game there were a few such instances. One was removing Ortiz for MacDonald in the 9th inning [or 8th?] when even the best possible scenario would've only gotten you a tie game, and thus, extra innings in which Ortiz's missing bat would surely be a factor.)
Tough loss. The wife and I were there for the first ten innings but had to leave because we had a sitter watching the kids and wanted to enjoy a quick dinner before getting home. The end of the 16th came as we pulled into our driveway.
If there was a highlight from yesterday, it was Middlebrook's bomb over the left field wall. The place went absolutely NUTS! I had hoped that it would ignite the offense, but that was not to be the case, unfortunately.
But still what? Did the Red Sox lose that game because of Valentine? Absolutely not. They had a million chances.
I can't argue with that, I just think what Valentine did was stupid, too. Being down three runs in the middle of the eighteenth sure didn't help them win the game. I think you have Doubront or Bard pitch there, and pick up the pieces when you get to Kansas City.
Valentine is making things worse
Yes. He is. He is not the only one at fault. But he is not managing well, not giving the team the best opportunity to win.
Stuck it out for the whole 17 innings yesterday & glad I did. Shocking that things have gotten this bad - we are 0-7 in my 7 trips to Fenway this year, eek. But the way things are going I'm at least trying to find some positives. I saw a historic game & a great Will Middlebrooks moment. Plus they let all fans out on the field to run the bases afterward, which was way more thrilling to me than it probably should have been for an adult. But yeah, it was great to be out there.
Freaking sucks how badly this team is playing right now. It's hard to pin the blame on just one thing, and it's really easy to just blame the manager. I'm definitely in the camp that Bobby the Fifth has been fucking up but you need to put most of the blame on player personnel. However, every game, Bobby the V seems to make a really dumb decision. Argh.
Darnell and Byrd simply aren't Jacoby and Crawford/Kalish, Elles would've beaten that throw to the plate. The injuries have been devastating and the choice to stick with average to below average major leaguers (with experience) as replacements weighs down the team.
That being said, some of BV's choices leave me frustrated--to often he goes for the sac bunt late in the game for a "productive out" when a more potent pinch hitter is available and a double could win the game.
I agree with Tom--I can't fathom how he didn't call on one of the starters to thrown one inning in yesterday's game. All of them, except for yesterday's starter should be available for an inning; no doubt several of them threw bullpen sessions, or did Bobby let them throw them all bullpen sessions before the game?
On the plus side, it's getting a lot easier to get tickets to Fenway.
I know Lester threw before the game. Seems like Atchison, though overworked, could have gone another inning.
Plus they let all fans out on the field to run the bases afterward, which was way more thrilling to me than it probably should have been for an adult.
Are you kidding? It would have instantly been my favourite day at Fenway -- ever.
By the way, I hate it when little kids get all the foul balls from the ball attendants. Why kids? What about the old guy who has been coming to games for decades and has never gotten a ball? He ought to get a ball!!!!
More fun:
The last game in which the winning and losing pitchers were both position players: September 28, 1902. It was the final game of the season and the White Sox and Browns used only position players (seven of them) to pitch that day.
Chris Davis was the first player to go 0-for-8 and wind up as the winning pitcher since Rube Waddell won a 20-inning complete game (against the Red Sox) on July 4, 1905.
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