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Red Sox In A Boston Marathon

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A few notes about the marathon game between the Red Sox and Blue Jays at Fenway on Tuesday. Note that all historical information here is for games played since 1913.

In terms of innings played

  • It was the longest game in the Major Leagues this season to date.
  • The 19.0 innings played by the Red Sox was the 2nd-longest game they’ve played Fenway Park.
  • It was the 4th-longest game by Red Sox after:
    • 20.0 innings on September 3, 1981 against the Mariners (an 8-7 SEA win), the longest game played at Fenway Park.
    • 20.0 innings on July 27, 1969 against the Seattle Pilots (a 5-3 BOS win) at Sick’s Stadium in Seattle.
    • 19.1 innings on August 29, 1969, the second game of a double header against the Yankees (a 4-3 NYY win).
  • The Red Sox used 12 pitchers in Tuesday’s game, their most in any game. The previous high was nine (nine times, most recently on May 17 against the Cardinals).

In terms of time played

  • Official game time was six hours and zero minutes (6:00).
  • It was the 3rd-longest game in Major League Baseball this season. Only longer:
    • 6:26 on May 28, an 8-6 Rays win over the Twins in 15 innings.
    • 6:25 on May 7, a 5-4 Yankees win over the Cubs in 18 innings.
  • It was the 9th-longest game in Red Sox history.
  • It was the longest Red Sox game since the longest for BOS, a 6:49 contest on April 10, 2015 over the Yankees (a 6-5 BOS win).
  • For Fenway Park, it was the longest Red Sox game since May 6, 2012 against the Orioles (6:07), which was the longest Sox game.
  • It was the 3rd-longest Red Sox game at Fenway ever after the May 2012 game (above) and September 3, 1981 against the Mariners (6:01).

Dead: Red Sox Offense Goes Missing Again

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For Red Sox Nation it wasn’t the worst possible weekend, but it was close. The Red Sox dropped three of four weekend games to their division rival, the Yankees.

Fortunately, a win on Friday on a solid outing by Doug Fister and home runs by Andrew Benintendi, Eduardo Núñez, and Hanley Ramírez, leave the Sox with a 3½ game lead in the division.

In Thursday’s 6-2 loss, Eduardo Rodríguez matched up poorly against New York’s heavyweight, CC Sabathia. E-Rod managed just 5.0 IP of work and allowed five runs on 10 hits, including two home runs in the process. On the other side, Sabathia gave up just one run on four hits over 6.0 IP.

Saturday’s outing by Drew Pomeranz was solid through five innings, but fell apart with three quick New York runs in the sixth. The Sox mustered just one run on six hits to lose that game 5-1.

Hoping for a split seemed plausible with Chris Sale starting Sunday’s game, but the Yankees were unimpressed. They knocked Sale around for seven hits, including a season-high three home runs from Chase Headley, Matt Holliday, and Todd Frazier. It was just the sixth time in Sale’s career he’d allowed three or more HRs.

Sale is now the first starting pitcher to make at least five starts against the Yankees in a single season and not record a win since the Blue Jays’ Mark Buehrle went 0-4 in five starts of 2014. 

Manager John Farrell sent Sale to the showers after 4.1 IP then paraded Boston relievers, one worse that the other, until the trio of Matt Barnes, Heath Hembree, and Blaine Boyer mopped up the last 2.1 innings of the game without allowing more damage. Joe Kelly was charged with one run, Robby Scott with two.

But it was Addison Reed who got the worst of it in the sixth inning. With two outs and the bases loaded, New York catcher Gary Sánchez, still alive despite obviously missed strikes by home plate umpire Sam Holbrook, reached safely after the Yankees challenged the out call by first base umpire DJ Reyburn. The overturned call allowed a run to score and kept the inning alive. It was 4-1, a game still in reach.

Immediately, though, Starlin Castro struck for a bases clearing double followed by an Aaron Judge blast that plated two more. Just like that, it was 9-1.

Red Sox Bats Go Dead Silent

Find fault with the Yankees, find fault with the umpires. OK. But understand that once again, the Red Sox offense simply didn’t show up. Boston has scored two or fewer runs in each of their last five losses. Sure, there were three home runs in game two of this series, but then no others.

New York outscored Boston 21-9. They outhit the Red Sox 41-22. 

And perhaps worst of all, the Red Sox didn’t get a single hit with runners in scoring position until the 9th inning of the final game. For 35 innings, the Red Sox went 0-for-25 with runners in scoring position. They left 30 men on base, 12 in the first game alone.

Boston batters struck out 15 times on Sunday, tying a season-high.

And New York’s damage to Boston hasn’t come just in this series.

This season, with runners in scoring position, the Red Sox have 48 hits against the division-rival Blue Jays, 29 against the Orioles, 23 against the Rays, and just 20 against the Yankees.

Fortunately, that’s the last time the Sox will face the Yanks in the regular season. Boston finishes the 2017 series with New York on the short end, 8-games-to 11. It’s their third loss to the Bombers in the last four seasons (11-8 in 2016, 8-11 in 2015, 7-12 in
2014). 

Turn The Page

The Red Sox head home to face the Blue Jays starting Monday. Toronto is 3-7 for their last 10 games. For the Yankees, it’s a road trip to face the Orioles. Baltimore is 8-2 for their last 10.


Red Sox Lead East By 5½ Games

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After a bruising weekend in which the Red Sox were swept by the Orioles over three games, the trip to Toronto came just at the right time.

While the Yankees faced the exceedingly hot Indians and lost three in a row, the schedule gave the Red Sox the Blue Jays and Boston came away with three solid wins.

The 2017 Red Sox join the 2001 Sox team as the only major league clubs ever to take eight games in a single season in Toronto. The Red Sox are also the only visiting team with eight straight wins in a season at the Rogers Centre, which opened in 1989. At 130-101 no American League team has a better winning at Rogers Centre than the Red Sox (.563), not even the Blue Jays (.546).

After a 1-4 June and and an 0-4 July, Red Sox starter Rick Porcello finished August at 5-1.

On Wednesday Porcello worked 6.2 IP allowing just one run on six hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

Porcello has now lasted at least 6.0 IP in each of his last 25 road starts, a streak that dates back to May 28, 2016. In the last 100 seasons, the only other Red Sox pitchers to go that deep in 24 or more straight starts are Oil Can Boyd (33 games), Roger Clemens (24 games), and Tex Hughson (Two streaks of 24 games).

Moreland Powerful Off The Bench

Once again, the Sox broke a low-scoring affair with six runs off Toronto relievers. Mitch Moreland, pinch hitting for Chris Young came through with a two-run home run in the seventh inning and then two more runs on a single in the eighth. It was Boston’s first pinch-hit home run since Aaron Hill’s last September 27 against the Yankees.

Not since Mike Carp’s grand slam on September 11, 2013 had a Red Sox pinch hitter connected for four RBI in two or fewer at-bats.

The ten Red Sox hits on Wednesday included a double and a home run for Hanley Ramirez. He now leads the club with 21 HRs, including two in the last two games. Ten of Ramírez’ last 16 hits have gone for extra-bases (six doubles, four home runs).

With a 5½-game lead in the American League East, the Red Sox now face the second place Yankees for four games in the Bronx starting Thursday.


Sale Roars Back in Red Sox Win

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It was all Chris Sale on Tuesday as the Red Sox shut out the Blue Jays 3-0 to win the first two games of the series in Toronto. Sale has now held the Jays scoreless in 22.0 inning over three starts of 2017.

After a horrendous outing in Cleveland last time out, one that tied for the shortest start of his career (3.0 IP), Sale came back strong. Through 7.0 IP Sale allowed no runs and no walks with just three hits and 11 strikeouts. For a second straight game, the relief tandem of Addison Reed and Craig Kimbrel finished out the Red Sox win.

The Sox gained a half game in the American League East standings as the Yankees and Indians were postponed for rain.

Tuesday’s game featured five stolen bases, including two apiece for Andrew Benintendi and Sox newcomer, speedy Rajai Davis. It was just the 12th time since 1980 that the Red Sox have collected five or more stolen bases in a game, the first such game since May 30, 2013. Boston is now 22-1 when stealing multiple bases in a game this season.

Historical Year For Sale

Red Sox fans are enjoying history in the making with nearly every Chris Sale game this season.

On Tuesday, Sale got one major milestone out of the way by the second inning, collecting his 1,500th career strikeout in just 1290.0 total innings. It’s the fastest any pitcher has reached that many strikeouts in major league history. The previous record holder was Kerry Wood (1,303.0 IP).

With 11 strikeouts on Tuesday, Sale now has more games with 10 or more SO this season than any other pitcher and the most since Hall of Famer Randy Johnson had 23 such games with the Diamondbacks in 2001. It’s the most such games in one season for an American League pitcher since Hall of Famer Pedro Martínez did it in 19 games for the Red Sox in 1999.

With just one game, Sale lept from No. 7 to No. 4 on the Red Sox All-Time Single-Season Strikeout List. His MLB-best 264 strikeouts in 2017 moved Sale past Smoky Joe Wood‘s 1912 record (258). Sale needs 20 strikeouts to tie Pedro at No. 3 (284 in 2000). The club’s all-time strikeout record for a single season is Martínez’ 313 in 1999.

Sale is already the club’s single season strikeout king among lefties.

Solid against the AL East this season, Sale improved now to 4-1 with a 1.44 ERA in seven starts. His 2.36 career ERA when facing his new home division is the best mark since the division formed in 1969 (minimum 300 IP).


Red Sox Get Back to Winning

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Again and again we’re seen that offensively speaking, the 2017 Red Sox aren’t like the Sox of last season. On Monday, we were reminded that neither are the 2017 Blue Jays.

For a fifth straight game a Sox opponent scored first and early in the game. Red Sox opponents have scored at least two runs before the third inning in every game since last Thursday.

But on Monday, the Red Sox knew that Jays pitching had a damning five-game streak of their own. Toronto had allowed five or more runs in five games and in seven of their last nine.

Despite a good outing from Jays starter Marcus Stroman (6.0 IP with two runs allowed, one earned, and no walks with four strikeouts), this was really a matter of getting into the Toronto pen. Once Stroman was gone, Boston struck for four quick runs against relievers Danny Barnes and Aaron Loup to take the lead and never look back.

Red Sox starter Drew Pomeranz wasn’t as sharp as in previous outings, allowing the leadoff batter to reach safely in five of his six innings. Still, Pomeranz lasted 6.0 IP to come away with the win, his 14th of the season. Pomeranz allowed three runs on seven hits but also walked five, tying for a third time his season high. Relievers Addison Reed and Brandon Workman each contributed a perfect inning apiece.

Craig Kimbrel, pitching with a three-run lead in the ninth, made things interesting when Justin Smoak cranked his 36th home run of the season. After a walk to José Bautista, Kendrys Morales stepped to the plate representing the winning run. It had been Morales who belted a HR against Kimbrel, the first of just four allowed by this season by the the gifted Sox closer. Morales popped out this time, however, and Kimbrel recorded his 30th save of the season.

Craig Kimbrel is now just the 6th MLB pitcher with at least 30 saves in as many as seven straight seasons. The others are Mariano Rivera (9 seasons), Trevor Hoffman (7), Jonathan Papelbon (7), Troy Percival (7), and Robb Nen (7).

Christian Vázquez Stays Hot

Boston catcher Christian Vázquez continued his torrid pace at the plate. On Monday Vázquez became just the second Boston catcher since at least 1913 with a stolen base and four hits, including a home run. The only other Sox catcher to do that was Hall of Famer Rick Ferrell on June 30, 1935.

Beside Vázquez, four other Red Sox had two hits in Monday’s game, including Hanley Ramírez, who was dropped to seventh in the batting order for just the 12th time in his career.

It was the 53rd game for the Sox with 10 or more hits, the most in the American League after the Astros (62) and Orioles (57).

Rafael Devers, hitless in four at-bats, made a pivotal play that underscores his remarkable maturity for so young a player. With the Sox down by a run in the fifth but with the bases loaded and just one out, Devers elected for the force play at home rather than an impulsive grasp at a tough double play. Pomeranz would work out of the jam to keep the game in check.

“These guys love to hit, so it’s always hitting, hitting, hitting,” Red Sox mental skills coach Laz Gutierrez told Rob Bradford of WEEI. “But [Devers] worked on all aspects of his game. And I think what you see now is all that work that he’s put in.”

With Cleveland beating the Yankees in New York, the Red Sox lead returned to 3½ games in the American League East. The Sox remain one of five major league teams this season not to lose five straight games.