Red Sox - 400 020 000 - 6 7 0 Blue Jays - 000 110 100 - 3 8 0The Red Sox had scored only seven runs in their last five games. They scored nearly that many in the first five innings this afternoon. Gordon Edes noted that this was only the seventh time in 31 games that the team had scored in the first inning.
Red Sox 1st: R.A. Dickey goes to a full count on Mookie Betts, who sends a missile to the gap in right-center. Kevin Pillar races after it and dives, appearing to make a phenomenal catch, but the ball comes loose when he hits the ground. Betts slides into third with a triple - and quickly scores when Dustin Pedroia grounds to shortstop. David Ortiz walks on four pitches and is forced at second by Hanley Ramirez. Pablo Sandoval doubles into the right-field corner and Mike Napoli belts a three-run homer to left-center, giving Boston a 4-0 lead. Xander Bogaerts ends the fun with a pop-up to shortstop.
Blue Jays 1st: To my memory, Clay Buchholz has been absolutely horrible in innings following Red Sox runs. He begins by walking Devon Travis. Josh Donaldson grounds to third and Sandoval starts a double play, with Napoli making a nice back-handed pick at first. With two outs, Buchholz walks Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion on five pitches each. NESN, naturally, shows new pitching coach Carl Willis on the bench. Kevin Pillar grounds an 0-1 pitch to third and Sandoval steps on the bag for the third out.
Red Sox 2nd: Jackie Bradley, back with the big club and making his season debut, grounds to first. Sandy Leon - making his first start since last Monday - lines a single to right. Betts forces Leon at second and beats the relay to first. Pedroia singles to right-center and Betts goes to third. Ortiz looks at two balls and then grounds into the shift, with shortstop Ryan Goins throwing him out.
Blue Jays 2nd: Chris Colabello singles to right; he's now 8-for-15 this season. Ezequiel Carrera strikes out looking and Josh Thole grounds into a 4-6-3 double play.
Red Sox 3rd: With two outs, Napoli walks, but Bogaerts lines to right.
Blue Jays 3rd: Buchholz needs only eight pitches to retire the Jays' 9-1-2 hitters on three groundballs.
Red Sox 4th: Dickey gets Bradley, Leon and Betts in order.
Blue Jays 4th: After Bautista taps weakly back to the mound, Encarnacion singles to center. Pillar grounds to second, Pedroia diving to his left and throwing from his knees. Encarnacion advances to second on that play and he scores on Colabello's single to center. Buchholz gets Carrera on a grounder to Pedroia. 59 pitches through 4.
Red Sox 5th: With two outs, Ramirez singles to left and Sandoval cranks a first-pitch inside knuckleball over the fence in right-center for a two-run dong. Napoli walks, but Bogaerts pops out.
Blue Jays 5th: Travis hits a two-out double to right. Donaldson also doubles, this one one-hopping the wall in left-center. Travis scores and it's 6-2. Bautista grounds to shortstop.
Red Sox 6th: Bradley pops to short. Leon fouls out to third. Betts flies to short right.
Blue Jays 6th: Encarnacion flies to Betts in right-center. Buchholz strikes out Pillar on three pitches. Colabello singles to right as Bradley races in and scoops/traps the ball. Colabello is now 3-for-3 and batting .588 (10-for-17). Not to worry, says Buchholz, as he gets Carrera on a high chopper back to the mound. Excellent work to put up a bagel after Toronto had scored in the previous two innings.
Red Sox 7th: Right-hander Ryan Tepera - making his major league debut - relieves Dickey (6-7-6-3-0, 103) and needs only seven pitches to set down Boston's 2-3-4 hitters. Pedroia flies to center, Ortiz fouls out to first, and Ramirez grounds to third.
Blue Jays 7th: Thole's pop-up along the right field line falls in and Bradley misplays it a bit for a double. The race is on: Can the Red Sox get nine outs before the Jays score four runs? Buchholz is wild in pitching to Goins, who helps him out by swinging at a couple of pitches out of the zone. Goins eventually grounds out to second as Thome goes to third. That's Buchholz's (6.1-7-3-3-3, 102) last batter as John Farrell signals for Junichi Tazawa to face the top of Toronto's order. Travis grounds out to short - and the run scores. 6-3. Tazawa falls behind 3-1 to Donaldson, but he flies out to the warning track in right.
Red Sox 8th: Tepera remains in the game. Sandoval grounds to second. Napoli strikes out swinging. Bogaerts flies to right. 6 up, 6 down on 19 pitches. Nice debut.
Blue Jays 8th: Tazawa starts the inning and Bautista lines a single to left. Encarnacion grounds into a double play. Pillar ends the inning by fouling out to Napoli.
Red Sox 9th: Brett Cecil is pitching. Bradley strikes out, ending an eight-pitch at-bat. Leon grounds out first-to-pitcher. Betts walks - and is picked off.
Blue Jays 9th: Koji Uehara relieves Tazawa. Colabello swings and misses three straight pitches. Danny Valencis pich-hits for Carrera. He looks at two strikes before grounding to third. Thole walks. Justin Smoak bats for Goins. He grounds into the shift and Bogaerts, playing where the second baseman might usually be, throws him out.
On to Oakland!
Betts, CFRoster moves: Jackie Bradley and Steven Wright have been called up from Pawtucket and Allen Craig (.135/.237/.192) and Robbie Ross were sent down.
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, LF
Sandoval, 3B
Napoli, 1B
Bogaerts, SS
Bradley, RF
Leon, C
Also, Edward Mujica was traded to the Oakland A's. So, of course, he'll be lights-out against us next week.
In 107 PA, Hanley Ramirez has no doubles or triples. His hits have been either singles (16) or home runs (10).
ReplyDeleteThe first ever (?!) 4-5-4 triple play!
ReplyDeleteElias: Bryce Harper followed two consecutive multiple-HR, 5-RBI games by hitting a walkoff homer in the Nationals' 8-6 win over Atlanta on Saturday. Harper is only the fifth player to hit at least six home runs and drive in 12 or more runs over a span of three games during the near-century for which RBIs have been officially compiled (1920 to present). The only other players to do so were Tony Lazzeri (1936), Ralph Kiner (1947), Manny Ramirez (1998), and Shawn Green (2002).
ReplyDeleteOld friend David Ross pitched an inning last night for the Cubs. He retired the side in order.
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