July 9, 2016

G86: Red Sox 4, Rays 1

Rays    - 100 000 000 - 1  7  1
Red Sox - 000 220 00x - 4  8  1
Rick Porcello (7-6-1-0-5, 94) pitched seven strong innings, Xander Bogaerts belted a two-run homer in the fourth, and Dustin Pedroia added a two-run single in the fifth.

Porcello gave up a home run to his second batter of the afternoon, but Bogaerts erased Tampa's early lead with none out in the fourth, after Pedroia had walked.

In the fifth, Sandy Leon singled. He went to third and Mookie Betts reached second on an error by center fielder Steven Souza. Pedroia then brought both runners home with a single. Bogaerts walked and it looked like Boston was poised for a big inning. But the next three hitters - David Ortiz, Jackie Bradley, and Aaron Hill - were retired by Matt Moore (6-7-4-3-4, 107).

Matt Barnes pitched a perfect eighth and Koji Uehara allowed only a leadoff single in the ninth.

Matt Moore / Rick Porcello
Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Bradley, CF
Hill, 3B
Shaw, 1B
Brentz, LF
Leon, C
The Red Sox traded for reliever Brad Ziegler, sending two minor leaguers to the Diamondbacks. Blake Swihart was moved to the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster for Ziegler.

Craig Kimbrel went for an MRI on his left knee (Update: He will have surgery and be out for 3-6 weeks; link in comments).

Junichi Tazawa, who has not pitched since Sunday, is dealing with right shoulder discomfort.

6 comments:

allan said...

More bad news.

WEEI:
[Craig] Kimbrel suffered a left knee medial meniscus tear while shagging fly balls during batting practice prior to Friday's game against the Rays. He will undergo surgery to repair cartilage in the knee on Monday and is expected to miss 3-6 weeks.

Looks like Koji Uehara and Brad Ziegler will share the closer role for now.

accudart said...

At the game with Liz, nice win. First game at Fenway,Allan since you and I went down in late summer 99' and watched Toronto blow us out.

allan said...

Great that you saw a win!

I went to check on when exactly that game was. Are we sure it was 1999? I looked through the schedule and the worst home loss to TOR that season was 14-9 and no rain. On a Wednesday. That can't be it, can it?

allan said...

Hmm, it was TOR 14-2 at one point, then the Sox came back a bit and lost 14-9. Maybe this was the game after all. Here's the box. September 22, 1999. I was sure there was a rain delay, though. But that info in the box could be wrong, I suppose. The Sox made a lot of substitutions in the 7th, losing the DH (?).

Jere said...

Hartford Courant, 9/23/1999:

"But by the ninth, few were paying attention. The fans who sat through a steady rain were focused on the TV booth instead of the field. The slap-happy crowd cheered as announcer Jerry Remy held his Wally the Green Monster doll out of the booth.

[...]

By the seventh, it had the feel of a spring game in Fort Myers, Fla. The Red Sox sent in a wave of reinforcements, with five position changes. Among them: DH Scott Hatteberg moving to catcher, which placed the pitcher in the batting order."

allan said...

Thanks, Jere. That's the one. The crowd around the dugouts and box seats got very silly after the delay.