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Late Rally: Can’t Keep Sox Down

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In just the second game of the season the Red Sox staged a dramatic, come-from-behind win on Friday, erasing a five run deficit to beat the Mariners, 7-6.

As in Thursday’s season opener, in which Chris Sale uncharacteristically allowed a deep and early hole, the Sox got substandard performance from Thursday’s starter, Nathan Eovaldi, too.

Like Sale, Eovaldi allowed three Seattle home runs. But unlike Sale, Eovaldi’s historical troubles with the Mariners continued on Friday, getting tagged with six earned runs over just 5.0 IP. Eovaldi is now 0-0 with a 4.09 ERA in four career starts against the M’s.

But while the starter tanked, the Sox bullpen was nearly perfect with the succession of Colton Brewer, Brandon Workman, Brian Johnson, and Matt Barnes stepping up, each delivering hitless, scoreless innings. Of the four, the only blemish was two otherwise harmless walks by Brewer; the others faced the minimum three batters per inning.

As the relievers kept the game in check, the Red Sox offense chipped away at the Mariners’ lead with single runs scored in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings, the latter two coming on first-of-the-season homers by J.D. Martinez and Christian Vázquez.

Moreland Magic

Despite Vázquez’ earlier homer, Manager Alex Cora went with Mitch Moreland as a late-game substitution to face Seattle reliever Hunter Strickland. Moreland was 0-for-1 lifetime against Strickland but, as it did so many times in 2018, Cora’s arrow hit the target. Moreland blasted a 369-foot moonshot that was the hardest hit ball of the game. It was Moreland’s fourth career pinch-hit home run, his first since August 30, 2017. With 8.1 innings in the books, it was the Sox’ first lead.

After the game Cora said he had considered adding Moreland to the game sooner, but agreed with his coaching staff that it would be best to hold him for a situation with men on base. “He’s been working hard, he’s been working hard on this and he was locked in,” Cora said of Moreland, “From the seventh inning on he was preparing, he was in the cage” with coaches Ramon Vazquez and Andy Barkett.

Matt Barnes, appearing as the closer and up by just a run in the bottom of the ninth, was excellent. Barnes dispatched the Mariners in order with two strikeouts.

Odds ‘n Ends

Now, a couple RSNStats notes about Friday’s game:

Moreland became the 18th Red Sox since 1925 to club a pinch-hit, go-ahead home run in the 9th inning or later, the first since Mike Carp on September 11, 2013 at Tampa Bay…The booming Mariners have now combined for 12 home runs in the first four games of the season, the second biggest such tally after the 1998 club (13)…Not since at least 1908 have Red Sox starters allowed three home runs in back-to-back games to start a season…Only once before have two Sox starters allowed six or more earned runs in the first two games of a season (1941 in back-to-back starts by Charlie Wagner and Jack Wilson facing the Washington Senators).


Red Sox Even ALCS

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They may have lost Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, but Red Sox Nation could take comfort from a good, come-from-behind 7-5 win in Game 2 on Sunday.

Starter David Price, far from invisible, was good enough to keep the Sox in the game, getting out of a two-walk, first-inning jam to be rewarded with two Sox runs in the bottom of the frame. Price immediately surrendered the lead, though, in the second inning, allowing a single and two doubles. Worse, he allowed a two-run home run by Marwin Gonzalez in the top of the third inning that had the Sox down 4-2. Boston answered back in the bottom of the third with three of their own to take and hold what would be a one-run lead until the seventh.

Despite the slim lead, Price wouldn’t qualify for the lead, exiting the game just one out shy of the prerequisite five innings of work.

What followed was 4.1 innings of solid relief by the Sox bullpen starting with Matt Barnes, who got out of a jam Price left behind and then worked all of the sixth inning, too. Barnes was followed by scoreless innings of work from Ryan Brasier and fiery Rick Porcello, who exploded with emotion after mowing down the Astros 1-2-3.

In the 9th inning, once again, close Craig Kimbrel kept the Nation on the edge of its collective seat. With a seemingly comfortable 7-4 Boston lead, Kimbrel got two quick outs before allowing a George Springer double and a José Altuve single. According to MLB.com, in his postseason career, Kimbrel has never had an outing with zero baserunners allowed when he comes into the game with a lead.

With Houston’s top player, Alex Bregman, representing the tying run at the plate, Kimbrel induced a pop fly to Andrew Benintendi that ended the game.

Offensive Might

Whereas the Red Sox offense looked missing in action in Game 1 (it was just the sixth of 180 Boston postseason games since 1903 with three or fewer hits), things were more like the regular season in ALCS Game 2.

Boston pounded out nine hits on Sunday, including four doubles, none more clutch than Jackie Bradley‘s two out, bases clearing, three-RBI shot in the third. Bradley is now tied with Andrew Benintendi for the third-most RBI in 29 postseason games for Boston since 2010. Only David Ortiz (14) and Shane Victorino (12) have had more in that time.

Mookie Betts, who has had relatively little production in the postseason, walked and then scored a key insurance run in the seventh on a passed ball by Houston backstop Martín Maldonado. Next inning Betts stepped to the plate with two outs and two on and doubled to bring in another run. Betts is now 6-for-24 (.250) since the start of the ALDS with three doubles and three RBI.

Boston’s seven runs on Sunday night were their most in an ALCS since beating the Rays 8-7 in Game 5 of the 2008 series.

Sale Hospitalized

Mid-game came the troubling news that Red Sox ace Chris Sale was hospitalized at Mass General with a stomach illness. Sale was held overnight for observation. After Sunday’s game, manager Alex Cora said the issue arose after Sale’s work in Saturday’s game and that it hadn’t affected his performance.


Red Sox Stun Yankees, Win Series

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After a tough loss on Friday, the Red Sox still won two-of-three this weekend in New York. Boston starts the week 5½ games up in the American League East and has won 10 of 11 games.

Sunday’s 3-2 extra-inning Red Sox win was both thrilling and frustrating.

Despite another master class, starting ace Chris Sale (7.0 IP, 1R on 4H, with 2 walks and a dozen strikeouts) took another no-decision. Sale had held the Yankees to one run after Mookie Betts uncharacteristically flubbed a deep two-out fly ball, which scorers credited as the first-ever triple in the 200th career game for Austin Romine. The triple scored Chase Headley, who had singled earlier in the inning.

After Sale, Manager John Farrell looked to Matt Barnes to keep the game tied in the 8th, but Barnes was erratic. After a lead-off ground out, Barnes walked two and allowed a single to load the bases. A sacrifice fly by Todd Frazier scored the go-ahead run.

Rafael Devers’ Historical Homer

Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman came in for the 9th inning. After dispatching Hanley Ramirez, Sox rookie Rafael Devers belted a 103 MPH fastball 423 feet into the night. You could hear a pin drop. This Yankees’ fan’s reaction captures the moment from the stands:

Devers’ HR was first 9th inning, two-strike, game-tying home run for the Sox against the Yankees since Jason Varitek‘s on April 5, 2005. According to ESPN, it was the fastest pitch anyone has hit for a homer in the pitch-tracking era.

“That says a lot about the hitter,” Portland manager Carlos Febles told ESPN’s Scott Lauber. “You don’t see many power hitters hitting homers with two strikes.” Febles saw it himself. At Double-A this season. 14 of Devers’ 18 home runs came with two strikes against him.

For Chapman, it was just the second home run he has allowed in his career to a lefty batter in either a regular season or postseason game (also Luke Scott on June 26, 2011). It was the first-ever home run he has allowed at Yankee Stadium.

In August, Benintendi is Hotter Than July

An inning later, Chapman’s night came to an end when, with one out, he hit Jackie Bradley and walked Eduardo Nunez. Yankee reliever Tommy Kahnle fared no better, however. He walked Mookie Betts, setting the stage for the other Sox hero, baseball’s hottest hitter in the month of August, Andrew Benintendi.

Benintendi did just enough, a single that scored Bradley was all Craig Kimbrel needed to save the game in the bottom of the 10th.

For Sale, it was a third straight no-decision against the Yankees this season, despite registering 10 or more strikeouts in each of those games. Sale has recorded nine or more strikeouts in each of his 14 road starts this season, the longest such streak in baseball

since at least 1913.

Boston is now 11-3 in extra-innings this season, the best such mark in the Majors.

This morning, the Sox improved a notch to #4 in the weekly ESPN Power Ranking, after the Dodgers, Nationals, and Astros.


Red Sox & Orioles Are Hottest AL East Rivalry

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Sunday’s Red Sox game at Baltimore was a spectacle. And although, after two quiet losses, Boston came away with a much-needed win, the sight of a baseball careening towards Manny Machado‘s head and Dustin Pedroia‘s weird, mid-game, cross-field apology was just downright bizarre.

This mess started Friday when Machado slid late and hard into Pedroia resulting in an injury that has sidelined the Sox second baseman for both Saturday’s and Sunday’s games. 

With a large lead late in the game Sunday, Sox reliever Matt Barnes ostensibly sought some retribution, but the ball sailed dangerously close to Machado’s head.

Today, The New York Post said Pedroia didn’t just throw Barnes under the bus in the aftermath of the near-beaning of Machado, but that he drove the bus and then “put it in reverse to back over Barnes.” Post sportswriter Joel Sherman is calling for a 25-game suspension for Barnes, through the longest suspension for throwing at a batter since 2000 has been ten games.

Over at ESPN.com, Scott Lauber writes that Sunday’s shot at Machado “was hardly the proportional response that jibes with baseball’s unspoken code.”

And while Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports called Barnes’ post-game denials “unlikely,” he also implied that Baltimore’s Zach Britton‘s shot at Pedroia (“If he can’t control his own teammates, then there’s a bigger issue over there”) was silly. Like Sherman, Rosenthal thinks Pedroia should’ve protected his teammates and spoken to Machado privately rather than engage in the mid-game, on-field apology.

After the game Orioles manager Buck Showalter repeatedly and nauseatingly extolled the “courage” of his team. Meanwhile, word came from the Sox Monday that Pedroia had been examined at Massachusetts General Hospital and that he’s now listed as “day-to-day,” therefore likely to avoid the Disabled List.

Pretty much everyone agrees, this isn’t over. Boston and Baltimore are the newest, hottest AL East rivalry. They meet again, this time at Fenway, next Monday May 1.

Benintendi’s Day

After an 0-for-4 outing Friday, a day off Saturday seemed to refresh Red Sox rookie outfielder Andrew Benintendi.

On Sunday, Benintendi went 5-for-5 with an RBI becoming just the second Sox player since at least 1913 with a 5-hit performance in one of his first 52 career games. The other Boston player to do that was the venerable Sox Hall of Famer Johnny Pesky on June 13, 1942 (also a 9-inning game).

Ironically, baseball’s overall last player to collect 5-hits within his first 52 career games was Benintendi’s teammate Steve Selsky, who did it with the Reds last September 26, his 19th career major league game.