G104: Red Sox 7, Rays 5

Rays    - 111 000 200 - 5 10  3
Red Sox - 300 010 21x - 7  8  2

After losing leads of 3-1 and 4-3, Boston went ahead for good on Mike Napoli's two-run homer in the seventh inning. David Ortiz was on first, after working an 11-pitch walk.

Napoli also walked twice and scored two runs. ... Blake Swihart and Alejandro De Aza each drove in two runs.

Erasmo Ramirez / Eduardo Rodriguez

Holt, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
De Aza, LF
Castillo, RF
Swihart, C
Bradley, CF
Rutledge, 3B

G103: Red Sox 8, White Sox 2

White Sox - 200 000 000 - 2  7  0
Red Sox   - 100 024 10x - 8 13  0

David Ortiz went 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBI. ... Xander Bogaerts went 3-for-4 and scored twice. ... Rusney Castillo had two hits, including his second home run of the year, and two runs scored. ... Wright: 7-6-2-2-8, 116.

Daniel Nava was designated for assignment and Tommy Layne was optioned to Pawtucket to make room on the roster for relief pitchers Jonathan Aro and Jean Machi.

Chris Sale / Steven Wright

Holt, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ramirez, LF
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Castillo, RF
Sandoval, 3B
Swihart, C
Bradley, CF

Elias:

The White Sox once again jumped out to a fast start [on Wednesday night], scoring six times in the first three innings in their 9-2 win at Boston. It was the third straight game in which Chicago scored at least five runs before the start of the fourth inning, all wins at Fenway Park. The White Sox had only once before put up five runs over the first three innings in three straight road games. That was in 1936, in wins over Washington (July 17) and Philadelphia (a doubleheader on July 18).

Jon Lester struck out 14 Rockies batters over eight innings in a 3-2 victory at Wrigley Field. The Cubs have won two World Series since the last time they had a left-handed pitcher record 14+ strikeouts in a game. On May 30, 1906, Jack Pfiester fanned 17 Cardinals in a complete-game 4-2, 15-inning home loss to the Cardinals. The Cubs finished that year with a record of 116-36 (.763), representing the best single-season winning percentage in modern major-league history. The North Siders lost to the crosstown White Sox in the Fall Classic before rebounding to win the World Series in both 1907 and 1908.

G102: White Sox 9, Red Sox 2

White Sox - 231 000 210 - 9 17  1
Red Sox   - 000 100 100 - 2  7  2

Mike Napoli hit a double and a home run (#12) and drove in both of Boston's runs.

Rick Porcello: 2-10-6-1-2, 68.

Jose Quintana / Rick Porcello

Holt, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ramirez, LF
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Castillo, RF
Sandoval, 3B
Hanigan, C
Bradley, CF

Mookie Betts has been placed on the 7-day concussion DL.

G101: White Sox 9, Red Sox 4

White Sox - 500 002 110 - 9 14  0
Red Sox   - 020 000 002 - 4  8  1

An ESPN headline that sums up tonight's game:

Jeff Samardzija / Wade Miley

Betts, CF
De Aza, RF
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, LF
Sandoval, 3B
Napoli, 1B
Swihart, C
Weeks, 2B

Watch NESN's Live Stream Of Pedro Martinez Ceremony

NESN's website will have a live stream of tonight's ceremony - the retirement of Pedro Martinez's #45 - beginning at 6:30 p.m. (NESN's TV coverage starts at 5:00.)

Click HERE.

Automated Strike Zone To Be Used In Pacific Association Game Tonight

Robots!

J.J. Cooper, Baseball America:

History will be made tonight.

There has been a lot of talk about the benefits and drawbacks of automated umpires for calling balls and strikes. Advocates and skeptics. But on Tuesday night in the independent Pacific Association in a game between the San Rafael Pacifics and Vallejo Admirals, everyone will get to see an automated strike zone in action in a professional game.

The two-game automated umpire trial is the brainchild of former big league outfielder Eric Byrnes, who will serve as the "Strike Zone Umpire" for the two games as a charity fundraiser for the Pat Tillman Foundation. ...

The technology is pretty widespread and understood at this point. Three cameras track the ball in three dimensions. Byrnes will be sitting with a monitor in front of him on press row. When the pitch crosses the plate, the pitching tracking software will show whether it's a strike or a ball. Byrnes will then immediately call ball or strike into the public address system. There will still be a home-plate umpire to handle any other calls that need to be made at the plate (such as check swings and plays at the plate). Longo said that the Pacific Association's umpires were consulted and are in favor of testing out the system. ...

Not long ago the independent Atlantic League added some innovative initiatives to speed up the pace of play, many of which were later adopted by Major League Baseball. It would not be surprising if other independent leagues toyed with the idea of testing automated ball-strike calls. From there, the idea could grow.

This is excellent news. The toughest thing for me is rethinking my negative opinion of Eric Byrnes.

Pedro's #45 Retired By Red Sox Tonight

The Red Sox will retire Pedro Martinez's #45 in a ceremony before tonight's game against the White Sox.

The ceremony begins at 6:30.

G100: White Sox 10, Red Sox 8

White Sox - 401 011 201 - 10 15  2
Red Sox   - 220 210 001 -  8 12  1

David Ortiz hit a two-run homer in the first inning, his 20th longball of the season. Ortiz's 13 seasons with 20+ home runs in a Boston uniform rank second only to Ted Williams (16). The only player with more consecutive 20+ home run seasons with a single American League team is Babe Ruth (15, Yankees, 1920-34).

I watched only the middle innings of this one, so looking back at the top of the first against Joe Kelly - man oh man, what a way to start the night: triple, triple, double, HBP, single, FC/E1 ...

Ryan Hanigan batted as the potential winning run in the bottom of the ninth, but grounded out to third.

Shane Victorino was traded before the game to the Angels for Josh Rutledge.

Rusney Castillo was recalled from Pawtucket.

John Danks / Joe Kelly

Betts, CF
Victorino, RF Ramirez, LF
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, LF Napoli, 1B
Napoli, 1B Sandoval, 3B
Sandoval, 3B Castillo, RF
Hanigan, C
Weeks, 2B

G99: Red Sox 11, Tigers 1

Tigers  - 000 010 000 -  1  3  1
Red Sox - 000 143 30x - 11 20  1

Good Times at Fenway on Sunday night!

David Ortiz went 4-for-5 and drove in a career-high seven runs, six of them coming on a pair of three-run homers. Ortiz now has 485 career dongs. Big Papi finished the night with 10 total bases, one shy of his career best (11, on August 12, 2005).

With his big night, Ortiz passed Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew and Rogers Hornsby on the all-time RBI list, and is now 38th with 1,587 RBI.

The Red Sox had a season-high 20 hits. ... Xander Bogaerts also went 4-for-5, raising his average to .317. ... Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez each scored three times.

Eduardo Rodriguez (7-3-1-1-6, 95) became the first AL left-hander since at least 1918 to allow one or no earned runs in seven of his first 11 major league starts.

Shane Greene / Eduardo Rodriguez

Betts, CF
Holt, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, LF
De Aza, RF
Sandoval, 3B
Napoli, 1B
Swihart, C

Pedro, Hall Of Fame Induction

LIVE VIDEO FEED (Speeches begin at 1:30 pm)

Pedro Martinez will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this afternoon in Cooperstown, New York:

I'm going to be able to actually showcase how we are, how our people feel. I hope that I can express with the moment how much I love, respect and treasure everything I did in baseball, America, the people, the fanbases, the teams, the organizations. I hope I can project the right image at the time I get to the podium. Hopefully, emotions won't [catch] me off guard and make me cut it short.

MLB.com has a live stream beginning at 11 AM.

This afternoon, NESN will be showing Pedro's innings from the following games:

12:00 PM - Red Sox at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, August 29, 2000
1:30 PM - Toronto Blue Jays at Red Sox, September 21, 1999
3:00 PM - New York Yankees at Red Sox, May 30, 2001
4:30 PM - Seattle Mariners at Red Sox, May 12, 1999
6:00 PM - Red Sox at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, August 29, 2000

(NESN being NESN, it screws up the listing and lists the 2000 game twice. With any luck, they will show a fifth game at 6 PM.)

Pedro, Spring Training 2000

Spring training trip in 2000. After watching a game in Fort Myers, we were walking down the street alongside the park's parking lot back to our rental car. We saw a small group of people gathered by a chain link fence. One person saw us coming and made a "shhhhh" motion with his finger.

We get closer - and it turns out it's Pedro, talking on a cell phone, but also signing stuff, tossing everything back over a chainlink fence. Luckily, I had a ball that had a few other sigs on it from pre-game (including Johnny Pesky). And so over the fence it went - there was someone helping Pedro catch stuff, since he had his phone going, too. I wish it had been a clean ball, so it could have been only his signature, but what can you do.

I took a few pictures and we continued on our way back to the car.

G98: Tigers 5, Red Sox 1

Tigers  - 110 201 000 - 5  9  0
Red Sox - 000 010 000 - 1  6  0

Alfredo Simon / Steven Wright

Betts, CF
Holt, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, LF
Sandoval, 3B
Napoli, 1B
De Aza, RF
Swihart, C

Dustin Pedroia is back on the disabled list. In seven games since coming off the DL on July 17, Pedroia was 1-for-22.

John Farrell:

Yesterday, him being down was because of some soreness. He went through a MRI here this morning. While the injury or the strain to the hamstring doesn't show any enlargement, still he's aggravated by the symptoms and feel like he needs some shutdown period to get back over it.

G97: Red Sox 2, Tigers 1 (11)

Tigers  - 001 000 000 00 - 1  7  0
Red Sox - 001 000 000 01 - 2  9  0

Xander Bogaerts's third hit of the night - a one-out line drive into center field - scored Mookie Betts from second base as the Red Sox won in extra innings and snapped their eight-game losing streak.

Betts began the inning by drawing a walk against Blaine Hardy. Brock Holt bunted him over to second. On Bogaerts's hit, Betts slid in ahead of Anthony Gose's throw, but it appeared that his lead foot may have hopped up and over the plate. The Tigers challenged the call, and after a long delay, Tim Timmons's "safe" call was upheld.

Rick Porcello (7-5-1-0-6, 105) turned in a fantastic start. ... Holt had an RBI single in the third.

Justin Verlander / Rick Porcello

Betts, CF
Holt, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Sandoval, 3B
Ramirez, DH
Napoli, 1B
De Aza, LF
Victorino, RF
Hanigan, C

The Red Sox have lost eight games in a row and are sinking like a rock in the AL East (now 12 games out). They return home to Fenway Park tonight to start a 10-game homestand against the Tigers, White Sox, and Rays.

Hope For The Future

With the 2015 season quickly turning into a raging dumpster fire, it's heartening to read that ESPN's Keith Law ranks the Red Sox's farm system as the best in baseball:

1. Boston Red Sox
January rank: 5
Number of top-50 prospects: 5

Top prospects: Rafael Devers, 3B (ranked 8th in top 50); Yoan Moncada, 2B (11); Manuel Margot, CF (14); Henry Owens, LHP (37); Javier Guerra, SS (48)

The Red Sox have as much potential ceiling -- in terms of players who have at least a fighting chance to become well-above-average regulars or more -- as any organization in baseball, as well as tremendous depth in both position players and pitchers. This sets them up well to make a trade for some major league impact now or this winter.

The top three players in their system are all international signings who have shown huge early promise, as has Guerra and their main signing from July 2, 2014, right-hander Anderson Espinoza, who is already throwing well at age 17 in the Gulf Coast League. They also added, via this year's draft, Golden Spikes Award winner Andrew Benintendi, a power-hitting center fielder with above-average speed who's off to a great start in short-season ball, while fast-rising first baseman Sam Travis (former teammate of Cubs rookie Kyle Schwarber at Indiana) already has hit his way to Double-A. And they still have players like third baseman Garin Cecchini, shortstop Deven Marrero and center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr., who would be on the major league rosters of many other MLB teams but are completely blocked in Boston.

SoSH: Pedro Martinez Memories

Pedro Martinez will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday - and, in celebration, SoSH has a thread dedicated to memories of watching the man pitch. There is sure to be some great reading.

See also Over The Monster's special Pedro section.

(Also, if anyone happens upon a video file (e.g., an mp4) of his induction and speech, let me know.)

G96: Astros 5, Red Sox 4

Red Sox - 110 000 020 - 4 10  0
Astros  - 100 000 301 - 5 10  1

Elias:

Jose Altuve's walkoff home run [off Craig Breslow] in the bottom of the ninth inning stamped an exclamation point on one of the worst road trips in Red Sox history. Boston was swept in a four-game series in Anaheim and then lost all three games at Minute Maid Park to mark only the third time that the Red Sox did not win a game on a road trip of at least seven games. They also did that on an eight-game trip to end the 1951 season and during an eight-game road trip in 1907, during which they lost seven games and tied one.

12 GB.

Wade Miley / Lance McCullers

I hear NESN will be using some Frank Zappa as its new Red Sox theme music.

G95: Astros 4, Red Sox 2

Red Sox - 000 002 000 - 2  7  2
Astros  - 100 120 00x - 4  8  0

Joe Kelly / Collin McHugh

Pedroia, 2B
Holt, 3B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, LF
De Aza, CF
Victorino, RF
Napoli, 1B
Swihart, C

Gordon Edes, ESPN:

John W. Henry was willing to blow up the Boston Red Sox roster twice in three years, because he wasn't interested in a beauty contest. He said as much barely seven weeks ago. ... Better to begin the rebuilding process immediately, rather than scrounge for a few extra wins. ...

This season is beyond salvaging. The Sox are 10 games under .500 and 10 games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East. They are a beaten team, and look every bit the part. ...

It is time to start planning for 2016. ...

Jackie Bradley Jr. should be here. Give him the chance denied him this season and find out whether he can hit on this level. Rusney Castillo, too. If a Bradley-Betts-Castillo outfield isn't a viable option in 2016, find out now. ...

It's time to abandon the pretense of winning in 2015. Get a head start on 2016, and the sooner the better.

G94: Astros 8, Red Sox 3

Red Sox - 003 000 000 - 3  8  1
Astros  - 100 042 01x - 8  9  0

The Red Sox have completely destroyed any good vibes they may have created during their hot streak before the All-Star Game.

On June 20, Boston was 10 games out of first place. By July 9, the Red Sox had whittled that deficit down to a mere five games, sparking thoughts of contention in the second half. But now, after losing their sixth game in a row, they will wake up on the morning of July 22 once again 10 games behind the Yankees in the AL East. At 42-52, Boston has the worst record in the American League.

Boston held a two-run lead for a couple of innings before Houston struck for four runs in the fifth. With runners at first and third, and Jose Altuve at the plate, Jake Marisnick took off for second. Ryan Hanigan's throw struck the sliding runner and caromed off into left field. Chris Carter, who had begun the inning with a single, trotted home from third and Marisnick came all the way around to score the tying run, his head-first slide beating Hanley Ramirez's off-line throw to the plate.

Carter hit a two-run home run off Justin Masterson in the following inning to put the game out of reach.

Brian Johnson (4.1-3-4-4-3, 87) was a bit wild in his major league debut (his last start was July 6), walking Altuve, the first batter he faced. (NESN reinforced its unprofessionalism by not showing the first pitch of Johnson's career. That's inexcusable production from a network that, after years of practice, is still unable to broadcast a complete baseball game. One can only hope Johnson's parents were either at the game or watching the Astros feed.) Altuve stole second and scored on a sac fly to give the Astros an early 1-0 lead. Johnson issued two one-out walks in the second, but stranded the runners, one of the outs a nice catch by Ramirez in left.

Alejandro de Aza lined a single to right to open the top of the third. Hanigan smoked a double to the wall in left. Mookie Betts checked his swing on a 2-0 pitch and knocked the ball inside the first base bag and down the right field line for a two-run double. Xander Bogaerts's single brought Betts home for the third run. And Johnson then went out and struck out the side in the bottom half, retiring Houston's 1-2-3 hitters.

Brock Holt doubled with one out in the fourth, but De Aza and Hanigan both struck out. Boston would not get another runner past first base over the game's final five innings. Ramirez singled in the sixth and De Aza singled in the seventh, but both were erased in inning-ending double plays.

Brian Johnson / Vincent Velasquez

Betts, CF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, LF
Sandoval, 3B
Holt, 1B
De Aza, RF
Hanigan, C

Brian Johnson, a 24-year-old left-hander, makes his major league debut in Houston.

Sox Prospects has a report here:

Future number four or five starter. Four average pitch mix with solid-average command and control. Lacks swing-and-miss pitch and a plus offering. Advanced knowledge of pitching and sequencing. Strong pitchability, knows how to pitch. Tempo pitcher that works incredibly fast. Impressive feel for pitching having recently committed to pitching full-time. Incredibly smart and has a good understanding of reading hitters. Gives his best effort every time with a fearless, determined approach.

Also: The Red Sox activated Daniel Nava and optioned Deven Marrero to Pawtucket.

For those about to pitch ...

G93: Angels 7, Red Sox 3

Red Sox - 000 002 010 - 3  6  0
Angels  - 014 010 10x - 7  8  0

The Angels pulled away by scoring four times in the third inning after there were two outs. ... Albert Pujols hit two home runs.

David Ortiz hit a two-run homer in the sixth. ... Ortiz, Mike Napoli, and Xander Bogaerts each had two hits.

The Red Sox, who had cut their deficit in the East from 10 games to 5.5, have now fallen back to 9 games out.

Steven Wright / Andrew Heaney

Betts, CF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, LF
Sandoval, 3B
Victorino, RF
Napoli, 1B
Swihart, C

G92: Angels 11, Red Sox 1

Red Sox - 000 100 000 -  1  9  1
Angels  - 070 400 00x - 11 11  0

Look on the bright side: The Red Sox scored a run!

Eduardo Rodriguez allowed seven runs and recorded only five outs: 1.2-6-7-3-0, 36.

Eduardo Rodriguez / Hector Santiago

Betts, CF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, LF
Sandoval, 3B
Napoli, 1B
Victorino, RF
Hanigan, C

First game of a day-night doubleheader. The second game is at 10 PM.

Blake Swihart was activated and Sandy Leon was designated for assignment.