Blue Jays - 100 000 000 - 1 4 2 Red Sox - 100 401 00x - 6 9 1What can you say about Doug Fister (7-4-1-3-9, 113)? With or without an audio transmitter in his right ear, the dude has been dealing over the last three weeks.
The 33-year-old right-hander is playing a much more important role with the Red Sox than I assume anyone thought when the team grabbed him off waivers on June 23. In his last four starts, Fister has allowed only five runs in 30 innings (1.50 ERA), giving up 14 hits and eight walks while striking out 27.
(Hilarious SI headline: "Yankees Thought Red Sox' Doug Fister Was Using Mouthguard as Secret Listening Device". Little known fact: Maxwell Smart often used Fister's right cleat to contact the Chief.)
As has been the case in his recent outings, he had a rough first inning. Ezequiel Carrera hit his first pitch of the game to the opposite field for a single. Teoscar Hernandez struck out, but Justin doubled off the wall in straight-away center, and Carrera went to third. Kendrys Morales struck out, but Michael Saunders walked, loading the bases. On both 0-1 and 2-2 to Miguel Montero, Fister threw pitches that seemed like strikes, but home plate umpire Shane Livenspanger called them both balls. Pitch #2 could have gone either way, I suppose, but #5 should have been an inning-ending called strike three. Instead the count went full, and Fister missed with his 3-2 pitch, forcing in a run.
Only two Toronto runners advanced past first base in the next eight innings. Ryan Goins led off the second with a single, went to second on a grounder to third (Rafael Devers ranged far to his left onto the infield grass and made a bare-handed grab-and-throw), and took third on a wild pitch. He was left there when Hernandez grounded to shortstop. Xander Bogaerts made a great play on this one, maintaining his concentration on the ball even as Devers was diving for (and missing) it directly in front of him. In the seventh, Goins reached on an infield error and was stranded at third.
The Red Sox tied the game in the bottom of the first. Eduardo Nunez singled and immediately stole second against catcher Montero. He alerted tagged and went to third when Dustin Pedroia lined out to shallow center, and Hernandez made a sliding catch and could not make a quick throw to third. Nunez scored on Andrew Benintendi's grounder to second. Mookie Betts then singled and also stole second. (And Nunez singled in the third and stole second. And Jackie Bradley stole second on the sixth.)
Boston chased Joe Biagini (3.1-6-5-3-2, 84) in the fourth. As a mist fell on Fenway, Mitch Moreland walked. Bogaerts tripled into the right field corner and the Red Sox had a 2-1 lead. Devers singled Bogaerts in. Sandy Leon forced Devers at second and Bradley homered into the Red Sox bullpen. Biagini walked Nunez and was sent away. The Red Sox scored a run in the sixth on a single by Devers, a double by Leon, and an infield error by the Blue Jays.
In the last two innings, the bullpen needed only 16 pitches. Joe Kelly got three straight groundouts to second in the eighth. In the ninth, Matt Barnes got two flyouts to center before striking out Goins.
The Blue Jays recorded a 7-2-5 double play in the sixth inning, that began with a dropped fly ball in left field. (Videos)
MFY Watch: The Yankees and Orioles were rained out, so the Red Sox are now 4 GA.
Nunez, 2BAlex Speier notes that, with last night's 19-inning victory,
Pedroia, DH
Benintendi, LF
Betts, RF
Moreland, 1B
Bogaerts, SS
Devers, 3B
Leon, C
Bradley, CF
the Red Sox improved to 12-3 in extra-inning games this year. Their 12 extra-inning victories are tied for the most in the majors this year while representing the team's highest season total since it claimed 13 overtime victories in 1982. The team's .800 winning percentage in extra-inning games is its highest since posting a .900 winning percentage (9-1) in 1938. ...MFY Watch: The Yankees are 3.5 GB. MFY/BAL.
[The 2017 Red Sox have] played a major league-high seven games of 12 or more innings. They are the first team since 2013 to play at least three 15-inning games in one season, and the first Red Sox team to do so since 1976.
Just listened to a recap of the 19-inning game and heard Dave O'Brien's call on the game-winning hit. He happily announces that "We can all go home!" BEFORE informing us that the Red Sox have won the game.
ReplyDeleteAnd that shows what is most important in DOB's mind. When a game goes 12+ innings, DOB will NOT shut up about how late it is, who is left in the stands, when will this game end, how it matches up with other long games this year. He is referring to other people, but he is clearly referring to himself. HE doesn't want to be there, HE wants to go home. And when the game is decided, what is his first thought? FINALLY, I CAN GET OUT OF HERE!!! (Which team won the game is irrelevant.)
DOB did this earlier this year - and Jere pointed it out. So I was not surprised to hear it again.