Rangers - 000 201 020 - 5 9 2 Red Sox - 261 114 20x - 17 19 0The Red Sox narrowly missed becoming only the seventh* team in American League history to score in all eight innings of a home game. They failed to score in the eighth inning against left fielder David Murphy, who allowed a leadoff double to Daniel Nava, and then retired the next three hitters. (No AL team has ever scored in all nine innings of a game.)
*: Boston did score in all eight innings on September 16, 1903. That was part of a streak of scoring in 17 consecutive innings!
In the words of NESN's Dennis Eckersley (when the game was over, thinking his mic was off): "We gotta recap this shit?"
The highlights: Jackie Bradley hit his first major league home run in the second inning. David Ortiz doubled and tripled in his first two at-bats. Daniel Nava had three hits and scored four runs. Stephen Drew had four hits and scored three runs. The Red Sox led off three consecutive innings with a home run: Drew in the fourth, Mike Carp in the fifth, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia in the sixth. Ryan Dempster (7-5-3-1-6, 107) turned in his second straight solid start. Red Sox batters saw 190 pitches in eight innings!
Nava, RFThe Rangers (35-21) have the best record in the American League. The Red Sox (35-23) are second-best; they lead the Orioles and Yankees by 2.5 games.
Carp, LF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Saltalamacchia, C
Drew, SS
Iglesias, 3B
Bradley, CF
Grimm (3.93 ERA in nine starts) is excited to be pitching in Boston:
It's going to be pretty cool to pitch at Fenway. I'm expecting a good crowd. I'm expecting to show up ready to go, ready to compete and be aggressive with them, and go after it. If I do that, it's going to be a good game.The Rangers lead the AL with a 3.38 team ERA. Boston is tied for second with the Tigers at 3.72.
Gabe Kapler says it is "time to implement widespread instant replay". ... And (he says when the technology is ready) that includes balls and strikes!
ReplyDeleteKapler for Commissioner!