Red Sox - 000 110 000 - 2 9 0 Royals - 200 001 00x - 3 5 0Jarrod Dyson, the ninth man in Kansas City's order, tripled and scored the go-ahead run in the sixth inning, then gunned down Xander Bogaerts at third base as the Red Sox shortstop tried to take an extra base with one out in the top of the eighth. Bogaerts's foolish gamble, his second baserunning mistake of the game, cut short a possible rally.
Jackie Bradley singled in the ninth inning to extend his hitting streak to 23 games. (Before that, NESN's David O'Brien must have mentioned at least a dozen times that the hitting streak was on the line. With the drama O'Brien was investing in his words, you would have thought that JBJ was at 50 games or something.)
Steven Wright (8-5-3-1-6, 101) pitched a complete game, but again had trouble in the first inning. Alcides Escobar singled and took second on a wild pitch. Eric Hosmer homered to center field for two runs. Wright settled down after that, at one point retiring 10 straight batters.
Down 2-0, Boston came out swinging in the fourth, as Dustin Pedroia doubled and Bogaerts singled. With runners at first and third, David Ortiz (3-for-4) lined a single to right, scoring Pedroia and sending Bogaerts to third. It had all the makings of a big inning, but Ian Kennedy struck out Travis Shaw and Josh Rutledge and got Bradley on a grounder to second.
Boston tied the game in the fifth on Chris Young's solo home run. Two outs later, Pedroia walked and went to second on a wild pitch. Bogaerts grounded a ball into the shortstop hole. Escobar dove after it and fired from his knees to first. His one-hop throw beat X to the bag because Bogaerts decided to slow his momentum and go in with a head-first slide. The play was very close and if Boagerts had simply run through, he may have beaten the throw and kept the inning going.
After the first inning, the Royals' next hit came when Dyson led off the sixth with his triple into the right field corner. Wright retired Escobar on a foul pop, but Lorenzo Cain lofted a sacrifice fly to left, giving the Royals a 3-2 lead.
Ortiz singled to start the sixth, but watched from first and the next three hitters struck out. Boston also struck out three times in the seventh. In the eighth, Boagerts singled with one out and was gunned down at third on Ortiz's hit. In the ninth, Bradley singled with one out. With two down and Marco Hernandez on first, Hanley Ramirez pinch-hit and flied to the edge of the warning track in center.
The game was the quickest of the year for the Red Sox (2:23).
NESN Note: Dennis Eckersley told us in the seventh inning that Ryan Hanigan "gives you a good at-bat. He's among the league leaders in pitcher seen per plate appearance". (I'm not sure a guy with a .268 OBP is giving you good at-bats, but whatever.) Hanigan has only 59 PAs this year, so allowing for a minimum of 50 PAs, Hanigan ranks 32nd in the AL. Not exactly a "league leader", Eck. However, he does come out as the #2 man on the Red Sox, behind Brock Holt.
Betts, RFFirst game of a day-night doubleheader.
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Shaw, 1B
Rutledge, 3B
Bradley, CF
Young, LF
Hanigan, C
WEEI:
ReplyDelete"As Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal noted, Xander Bogaerts had only made three outs on the bases all season until this series, when he was caught stealing on Tuesday and gunned down at third on Wednesday. ... Bogaerts made an out at third and also made an ill-advised dive into first on Escobar's great throw from his knees."