G138: White Sox 8, Red Sox 0

Red Sox   - 000 000 000 - 0  5  0
White Sox - 221 101 01x - 8 15  0

The Red Sox sent Brian Johnson to the mound and the White Sox shook his foundations.

There was no beating around the bush. The White Sox batters put the finger on Johnson and said, "If you want blood, we're gonna walk all over you". Johnson (1.1-7-4-1-2, 38) got kicked in the teeth and the thunderstruck Red Sox were deep in the hole from the first inning.

Boston's chances to win the series were shot down in flames almost immediately after the umpires said "Play Ball". The White Sox showed plenty of ruff stuff - each starter had at least one hit - and seven players scored a run and seven players (but not the same seven) had at least one RBI. The White Sox fired their guns, scoring in each of the first four innings. Tim Anderson and Daniel Palka hit big jacks as Chicago won in a landslide.

Boston kept a stiff upper lip during Sunday's hard times, but were ultimately caught with their pants down and managed only five singles: two from Xander Bogaerts, two from J.D. Martinez, and one from Blake Swihart. Martinez, Mitch Moreland, and Brock Holt each had a walk. Holt was also hit by a pitch.

In short, this game was all screwed up. Nothing to do but have a drink - maybe a whiskey on the rocks - shake a leg and go down the highway to Atlanta. The Red Sox will be back in business very soon, come hell or high water.

Brian Johnson / James Shields

Betts, RF
Bogaerts, SS
Moreland, 1B
Martinez, LF
Nunez, 3B
Kinsler, 2B
Holt, DH
Swihart, C
Bradley, CF

With Rafael Devers on a rehab assignment with Pawtucket, Alex Cora was asked how Devers and Eduardo Nunez would split playing time at third base:

Eduardo is swinging the bat well. He's more direct to the ball. ... The luxury we have is we can play him at second, too. We can DH him when J.D. plays in the outfield. ... One thing for sure, Raffy needs to play better. We knew that. The whole season offensively he's been up and down. Defensively he's made his errors. He needs to be better and that's the bottom line. We need to win ball games and whoever is playing best is going to play. [Will there be a platoon?] Maybe, yeah. Maybe not. We'll see how it goes.

The Red Sox are 94-43 with 25 games remaining. The 1912 team holds the franchise's win record: 105-47-2.

12-13: Minimum record needed to set a new franchise record for wins
12-5: Minimum record needed to set a new franchise record for wins in 154 games

MFY Watch: Tigers/Yankees, 1 PM. ... It would take a lot for the Yankees - who lead the Athletics by 5.5 games and the Mariners by 10 games - to miss the Wild Card Game. But it's not impossible, so keep the faith!