Dodgers - 010 000 000 - 1 5 0 Red Sox - 110 001 50x - 8 8 0Eduardo Rodriguez (7-5-1-2-10, 105) turned in one of his strongest starts of the season. Rafael Devers and Christian Vázquez hit early solo home runs and, after a one-hour rain delay, Xander Bogaerts put the game on ice with a three-run dong. The Red Sox kept pace with the Yankees and Rays, who also both won easily on Friday night.
Rodriguez retired 15 of 17 batters from the first to the sixth innings. Excluding a solo homer by Alex Verdugo in the second, only two Dodgers got as far as second base all night. EdRo's two walks both came in the first inning; he went to a 3-ball count only four times over the next 6.1 innings (24 batters).
With one out in the top of the seventh, and the Red Sox up 3-1, Rodriguez was dealing with runners on first and second. After a mound visit, the lefty struck out Austin Barnes with a 1-2 fastball at the top of the zone and got Corey Seager to ground weakly to second.
In the bottom half of the seventh, Jackie Bradley reached on an infield single that rolled past pitcher Pedro Baez and Michael Chavis was safe on a fielder's choice when catcher Barnes grabbed his nubber in front of the plate and threw quickly and off-target to second base. By this time, the rain that had been falling most of the night began coming down in sheets. Brock Holt drove Baez's first pitch off the Wall to score Bradley. Mookie Betts took a strike and a ball before the umps finally called for the tarp.
Exactly one hour later, Betts stepped back in against new reliever JT Chargois and flied to center, scoring Chavis to give Boston a 5-1 lead. Devers (who, in addition to his first inning homer, had doubled in a run in the sixth) was walked intentionally. Bogaerts made the Dodgers sorry for that decision, lining a 1-1 pitch off the shelf at the top of the Wall for a three-run homer. Bogaerts did not initially think the ball had gotten out and slid into second base, before hearing the good news, getting up, and finishing his trot.
Josh Taylor and Hector Velázquez each pitched a clean inning of relief, with Velázquez needing only eight pitches to close out the game.
In 2017, Vázquez collected 131 total bases in 345 plate appearances. This year, in only 276 PAs, he has a career-high 138 total bases. His season home runs totals: 1-1-5-3-15.
AL East: MFY 4, Blue Jays 0. Rays 16, Orioles 4 (played in a crisp 2:49!). ... MFY –, TBR 6.5, BOS 9.0.
Betts, RFRecords After 92/90 Games
Devers, 3B
Bogaerts, SS
Martinez, DH
Benintendi, LF
Vázquez, C
Bradley, CF
Chavis, 1B
Holt, 2B
2018 2019 Diff Dodgers 50-42 60-32 + 10 Red Sox 61-29 49-41 - 12As the "second half" of the season gets underway, the Red Sox are concentrating on improving their rotation. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that Boston is "pushing to add a starting pitcher ... sooner rather than later".
The Red Sox have talked with the Mets about right-hander Zach Wheeler, who turned 29 about three weeks ago. Wheeler has a 4.69 ERA in 19 starts this year. In 2018, Wheeler finished 11th in the NL in ERA (3.31).
The Red Sox have released Tyler Thornburg after Thornburg declined a minor league assignment.
David Ortiz had a third surgery earlier this week at Massachusetts General Hospital "for complications resulting from his gunshot wound", according to Tiffany Ortiz.
Mike Vaccaro, Post:
The 2019 Yankees: Championship or Bust. ...We shall see.
That isn't simply click-bait ... If they aren't the best in the world, they're right there in the team picture. ... The Red Sox are a little short this year ...
Even during last year's 100-win breeze, there were always the Red Sox looming, lurking, loitering. ...
Not this time. Not this season. Aaron Boone thinks the Yanks are the best team in the world? You should believe that, too. ... It's time.
AL East: Blue Jays/MFY and Rays/Orioles, 7 PM. ... MFY –, TBR 6.5, BOS 9.0.
Not surprising. The Dodgers' offense has been crappy for about a month.
ReplyDeleteNESN:
ReplyDeleteEarly in the game, Dave O'Brien tells us - in a disbelieving tone - that Cody Bellinger has 71 RBI at the break. OB makes it sound like Bellinger is otherworldly and has 600 RBI. But Xander Bogaerts has 65 (2 fewer than AL leader Trout). That's only 6 fewer RBI than Bellinger over 90 or 92 games. (X is 7/100th of an RBI (0.07) per game "worse" than Bellinger.) So calm the fuck down, OB. It ain't that amazing. ... So in tonight's game, X drove in three, so he's at 68. The mighty Bellinger still has 71. Why is OB continually so impressed and in awe of opposing players for doing things barely better than Red Sox players?
After Bogaerts went deep to make it 8-1, OB said: "You felt it right before the rain delay that they were one hit away from busting it open." ... Oh, yeah? You felt that, did you, Dave? Yet another premonition for OB. He sure seems to have a lot of those. BUT WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING BEFORE THE DELAY? Nope, he waits until the game was broken open to say it. (I guess he won't say it beforehand because he's afraid of looking like a fool when it doesn't happen, though that has rarely stopped him from jumping the gun in other ways (like the actual play-by-play.) You're not fooling anyone, Dave.