June 6, 2015

G57: Red Sox 4, A's 2

A's     - 001 000 100 - 2  5  0
Red Sox - 202 000 00x - 4 11  0
Pitching with the possibility of losing his spot in the rotation, Joe Kelly threw six strong innings (6-4-1-2-6, 100), working out of jams in the third and fourth innings. Kelly has allowed only two earned runs in his last 11 innings.

Hanley Ramirez was the hitting star, with three hits, including a home run, two runs scored, and two RBI. ... Everyone in the lineup had at least one hit except for Mookie Betts (who reached base on a walk and stole his ninth base of the season).

Note to NESN: We get it. You got a camera up in the blimp and you are quite pleased with your new toy. However, that does not mean you must give us an overhead shot from the blimp roughly every three minutes for the entire fucking game. Since you remain incapable (after how many years of practice?) of showing an entire game without missing pitches (see below), why don't you concentrate on mastering what should be a simple task before moving on to celebrate any bells and whistles.

Red Sox 1st: With Brock Holt on first, Hanley Ramirez crushed a pitch to dead center for a two-run homer (#13), the ball coming down on the black, closed-off area.

A's 3rd: Eric Sogard singled to center with one out. Billy Burns lofted a pitch off the Wall in left center. The carom eluded Betts, who was too close to the Wall. Ramirez chased the ball down, and Burns had an RBI triple. Kelly worked out of trouble, getting Ben Zobrist on a grounder to first (with the infield in) and striking out Stephen Vogt.

Red Sox 3rd: After two were out, Ramirez was safe on an infield single and Ortiz brought him in with a double off the scoreboard. (NESN was caught showing too many replays and missed a pitch to Ortiz; thankfully, it was not the double. Also, enough with the goddamn blimp shots!) Mike Napoli's single to left scored Ortiz, who slid in ahead of the throw (the catcher also dropped the ball).

A's 4th: Kelly worked in - and then out - of a jam. After Josh Reddick doubled with one out, Kelly lost his feel for the strike zone. Marcus Semien walked and Kelly fell behind 3-0 to Max Muncy. Kelly rallied, though, coming back to strike out Muncy and (despite falling behind 2-0) getting Mark Canha to fly to right.

Red Sox 4th: With two outs, Blake Swihart doubled and Dustin Pedroia beat out an infield single to shortstop. Another two-out rally? No. Holt lined to left.

Red Sox 5th: Ramirez singled (his third hit of the day), but was thrown out trying to steal second. Boston collected 10 hits off Jesse Chavez in five innings (5-10-4-1-5, 98).

A's 6th: Kelly issued a two-out walk, but finished the inning with a strikeout - and ended his day at 100 pitches.

Red Sox 6th: Reliever Drew Pomeranz walked Betts and, with two outs, Betts stole second. Pomeranz finished Pedroia's PA by walking him intentionally. Then, Pomeranz threw a wild pitch and walked Brock Holt to load the bases. But Ramirez grounded out to second for the third out.

A's 7th: Alexi Ogando gave up a home run to his second batter, Canha, which cut the lead to 4-2.

A's 8th: Ogando walked Zobrist to begin the inning. Tommy Layne came in and struck out Vogt and Billy Butler. Brett Lawrie pinch-hit for Reddick - and Layne walked him (after being ahead 0-2), bringing the potential go-ahead run to the plate. Sam Fuld pinch-ran for Lawrie. Matt Barnes relieved Layne and needed only four pitches to strike out Semien.

Red Sox 8th: With two outs, Pedroia and Holt both walk. Ramirez faces Fernando Rodriguez and hits the ball hard, but grounds to second.

A's 9th: It's Koji Time. Muncy (bfs) struck out. Canha (bc) flied to right. Sogard (bcb) grounded out to second. Pedroia ranged to his right and threw off-balance, and nipped the runner.
Example
Jesse Chavez / Joe Kelly
Pedroia, 2B
Holt, 3B
Ramirez, LF
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Bogaerts, SS
Betts, CF
De Aza, RF
Swihart, C

4 comments:

allan said...

From Elias:

The Braves have lost their last three games despite scoring at least six runs in each game. It's the first time in 70 years that the Braves lost three consecutive games despite scoring at least six runs in each game. The Boston Braves did it from June 22-24, 1945. The Braves lost three games in Brooklyn during that streak (8-7, 14-12, 9-6).

Dustin Pedroia went 3-for-3 against Scott Kazmir in the Red Sox win over the A's on Friday night improving his career batting average against the southpaw to .512 (22-for-43).

hrstrat57 said...

So far this season the team is not very good and NESN is nasty.

Great formula for getting a lot of stuff done vs. sitting and watching baseball every night.

Dr. Jeff said...

Where and when did the 100 pitch maximum get instituted? I understand the concept of pulling the pitcher after a certain amount of work, but 100 seems arbitrary. Oh, it's a three-digit number, sounds like a lot. Maybe the ideal maximum is 75? or 125? Seems like a team that understands statistics might try to figure out an ideal number. Also, it might vary based on the pitcher's age, right?

allan said...

I did not read this, but it might have some info. And I would think that every pitcher would be different - and every start would have its own variables.