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April 27, 2015

G20: Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 5

Blue Jays - 301 100 000 - 5  6  1
Red Sox   - 200 110 011 - 6 10  0
Mookie Betts's third hit of the game was a groundball single through the drawn-in Toronto infield that scored Xander Bogaerts with the winning run. In the eighth inning, Betts led off with a single and scored the game-tying run. And what began as another disappointing outing by Joe Kelly (6-5-5-3-10, 104) turned into a festive night at Fenway.

The Red Sox began their comeback in the bottom of the fourth, trailing 5-2. With one out, Pablo Sandoval hit a line drive home run into the visitors' bullpen. In the fifth, Betts doubled with two outs and scored when Dustin Pedroia hit a high chopper back to the mound and Blue Jays pitcher Aaron Sanchez (5.2-5-4-2-7, 107) threw the ball into the photographers' pit.

Betts got things going in his next at-bat, lining a single off the Wall to begin the eighth inning against Roberto Osuna. Pedroia followed with a hard single to left. With David Ortiz at the plate, a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third - and Toronto elected to intentionally walk Big Papi. Hanley Ramirez smoked a line drive to left that Dalton Pompey made a diving catch on. It went into the books as a sacrifice fly, but Pompey certainly saved what would have been the go-ahead run. After Allen Craig struck out, Daniel Nava lined to third, with Donaldson leaping skyward to snare the ball.

After Koji Uehara pitched a strong ninth inning, striking out two batters, the Red Sox won the game again Miguel Castro. Bogaerts lined a one-out single to left and Ryan Hanigan grounded a first-pitch single to center. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch - and then Betts delivered. ... It was a rough end for Castro as his last four pitches were: single, single, wild pitch, single.

Kelly struck out a career-high ten batters, but he looked horrible during the first four innings. He gave up two singles and a walk to the first three batters of the game. After six pitches, Boston trailed 1-0, and Russell Martin doubled home two more runs later in the inning.

Boston came right back with two of their own against Sanchez. Betts walked, but was thrown out stealing. Pedroia walked and took third on Ortiz's double. After Ramirez whiffed, Sandoval singled home the two baserunners.

Kelly struck out the side in the second. He gave up a solo home run to Devon Travis in the third, and then struck out three more Jays. He walked the first two batters in the fourth and allowed an RBI-single to Kevin Pillar, but Sandoval made a diving catch on Pompey's popped-up bunt and Jose Reyes hit into a double play. Sandoval left the game two innings later with neck soreness, likely a result of his face-first dive on the bunt attempt.

More annoyance from NESN: During the early innings, when it looked like Kelly would have an early night, Don Orsillo was enthralled with Kelly's fastball velocity. Even though he allowed five hits, three walks, and five runs in 4+ innings, Orsillo could not stop marveling every time Kelly hit 98 on the gun. It was like he had absolutely no clue that major league hitters can hit fastballs even at 100 mph and velocity doesn't mean much when you aren't throwing strikes.

Example
Aaron Sanchez / Joe Kelly
Betts, CF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, LF
Sandoval, 3B
Nava, 1B
Holt, RF
Bogaerts, SS
Hanigan, C
The Red Sox have lost seven of their last 11 games and are now 10-9, in third place in the East, 1 GB the Rays and Yankees. The team is batting .213/.303/.356, with a 5.70 ERA, over those 11 games.

1 comment:

  1. Perhaps the best example of a pitcher doing poorly yet maintaining high velocity is Pedro in 2003's Game 7. He was spent and should have been on the bench, but he was still hitting 95. Orsillo would do well not to have the same thought patterns as Gump.

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