Red Sox - 100 000 100 - 2 5 1
Orioles - 003 003 00x - 6 9 0
Enrique Hernández hit the first pitch of the game over the fence in left-center for his 19th home run of the season. And that was pretty much the highlight of the Red Sox's night.
With three games left in the regular season, the Red Sox and Mariners are tied for the second wild card spot.
Nick Pivetta (4.2-4-3-2-8, 87) walked the leadoff batter in the third inning, threw a wild pitch, allowed a single, and threw another wild pitch. (It's like he was auditioning for the Yankees.) He then appeared to get his shit together, striking out the next two hitters . . . but Ryan Mountcastle jumped on a first-pitch fastball and hit a three-run homer. It was first time the Orioles had hit a lead-flipping 3- or 4-run dong at home against the Red Sox in more than 13 years (August 20, 2008).
In the sixth, three singles, two more wild pitches (both by Garrett Richards), a throwing error from Alex Verdugo and a sac fly resulted in three more Baltimore runs. It was the third game in Red Sox history in which two pitchers each threw two wild pitches:
Brad Penny and Michael Bowden, August 21, 2009 vs MFY
Brian Johnson and Marcus Walden, June 16, 2019 at Orioles
The Red Sox scored a meaningless run in the seventh. J.D. Martinez led off with a double and eventually scored on (what else?) a wild pitch.
The MFY beat the Blue Jays 5-2.
As the calendar turns to October, the American League Wild Card standings look like this, with three days remaining in the regular season:
Yankees 91-68 +2.0
Red Sox 89-70 ---
Mariners 89-70 ---
Blue Jays 88-71 1.0
Red Sox at Nationals
Rays at Yankees
Orioles at Blue Jays
Angels at Mariners
2 comments:
It is hard to be optimistic .....
We have played like a Car Crash for the last week
Personally, I think our fate over the next few days rests in the hands of Xander - he has really gone over the Cliff in recent times & so much of our "intangible energy" stems from X
Ultimately, at the wrong time, we have stopped hitting & the runs have consequently disappeared & we are left to rue that The Bullpen now looks like a Warzone too
My Maths Logical Brain says
Toronto will win 2 or 3
Seattle will win 2 or 3
MFY will win 1 or 2
IF The Sox win 0 or 1 then it is Mothballs .......
Win 3 & we will play MFY "somewhere" in Wild Card Game
Win 2 & about 5 different scenarios could unfold
I am very confident we will win 1 game
I have zero confidence in us winning 3
So it comes down to 1 game, basically .......
But remember this ......
Before you pull your hair out, swear your head off or throw bricks at the TV
Back in April we lost the first 3 games to a truly pathetic Baltimore
At that point, IF, anybody, ANYBODY, had said this scenario would happen, we would have quietly called the "men in white coats" & had that "deranged fool" taken away !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am Calm
What will be, will be
I still believe we deserve to make the Playoffs & somehow, somehow I still think we will
It might be ugly & possibly shred some nerves .......
But Hey, We are Red Sox Fans !!!!!!!!!
Red Sox 2, Orioles 6: That can't happen
It just can't.
Matt Collins, OTM
I don't know what to say. Baseball is a weird spot. Bad teams beat good teams. . . . It's part of the game. But at the same time, it can't happen in this situation. It can't happen when the Red Sox control their own destiny for a postseason spot, just needing to not collapse. It can't happen when the team you're facing has one of the worst pitching staffs in recent memory. It can't happen while you're fighting for your postseason lives against an organization that has not put any discernible effort in winning in a half-decade.
Allowing rallies to be started with a bottom of the lineup that would barely fit in Triple-A can't happen. Consecutive quick innings against a pitcher with an ERA over 7.00 can't happen. Two runs against a bad pitcher with the same repertoire as the other two bad pitchers you faced earlier in the series can't happen. The season isn't over. The Red Sox still have a share of a postseason spot, and they have another chance against a bad team to finish the season. And what we've seen so far this week? It simply cannot happen this weekend.
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