Red Sox - 050 010 100 - 7 16 0 Royals - 000 010 011 - 3 10 1Rookie lefty Eduardo Rodriguez (6.1-6-1-1-5, 104) was back in the groove Friday night, pitching 6.1 solid innings in Kansas City and allowing only one inconsequential run. Mike Napoli and Blake Swihart each drove in two runs during a five-run second inning. Mookie Betts went 4-for-5 (the first four-hit game of his career).
With one out in the second against Yohan Pino (5.1-1-6-1-0, 76, in his first start since August 23, 2014), Xander Bogaerts grounded a single into right-center. Pablo Sandoval doubled to deep center, over the head of Lorenzo Cain, putting runners at second and third. Napoli singled on a slow-rolling ground ball to center and both runners scored, Sandoval showing hustling around from second. Alejandro De Aza walked and Swihart doubled to deep right to make to 4-0. Swihart went to third on a ground out and scored on Betts's single to right.
The five runs were the Red Sox's second-most runs in any road inning this year (they scored six in the third inning in Philadelphia on April 9).
Hanley Ramirez homered in the fifth. In the seventh, Brock Holt walked and Betts singled. After a double steal, Ramirez singled in Holt.
Everyone in the lineup (except for Holt) had at least one hit, including Rusney Castillo, who came into the game in the seventh inning and singled in the ninth.
Holt, 2BMatt Collins, OTM: "Seven Reasons You Should Still Watch The Red Sox":
Betts, CF
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, LF
Bogaerts, SS
Sandoval, 3B
Napoli, 1B
De Aza, RF
Swihart, C
The Red Sox stink right now. For the last two months, they've been just plain bad at baseball, and there's little room for optimism that they'll turn it around. ...I'm not sure these reasons - one of them is tonight's starting pitcher - are enough to give up three hours of every summer evening, but that is what fans do, I suppose.
Even with this rough season, we're still going to watch. ... We're stupid like that. Luckily for us, there are more than a few reasons why watching this team can still be fun, even if it doesn't end with a miraculous playoff trip.
The 2015 Red Sox: "We're stupid like that."
ReplyDeleteFrom Elias: Mookie Betts went 4-for-5 to help lead the Red Sox to a 7-3 win over the Royals on Friday night. Betts - who doesn't turn 23 years old until October - became the second Boston player under the age of 23 to produce a four-hit game this season, joining Xander Bogaerts, who has had two such games. Prior to 2015, the last time the Red Sox had multiple players under the age of 23 with a four-hit game in the same season was in 1965, when Tony Conigliaro (20 years old) and Dalton Jones (21 years) each did it.
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